CULTURE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY:
UNDERSTANDING THE ZAPATISTA NATIONAL
LIBERATION ARMY
Chris Gilbreth
B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1993
THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
Master of Arts
in the
Latin American Studies Programme
O Chris Gilbreth 1997
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
December 1997
All rights reserved. This work may not be
reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy
or other means, without permission of the author.
APPROVAL
Name:
Christopher Scott Gilbreth
Degree:
Master of Arts
Title:
Culture and the Struggle for Civil Society: Undertanding
the Zapatista National Liberation Movement.
Examining Committee:
-
Chair:
n Brohman
Professor. Geography Department
"P"ssistadt
Senior Supervisor
Gerardo Otero
Associate Professor of Sociology
Sociology/Anthropology Department
Marilyn Gates
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Sociology/Anthropology Deptartment
External Examiner
Date Avvroved:
Gary Teeple
Associate Professor, SoEiology
Sociology/Anthropology Deptartment
7
S E ~ Z w % /~
79
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PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE
I hereby grant to Simon Fraser Universi the right to lend my
thesis, pro-ect or extended essay (the title o which is shown below)
to users o the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make
partial or single co ies on1 for such users or in response to a
request from the li rary o any other university, or other
educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I
further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for
scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate
Studies. I t is understood that copying or publication of this work
for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written
permission.
?'
2
g
2
Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay
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Author:
(signature)
Abstract
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On January 1, 1994, thousands of Mayan peasants launched an armed uprising in
Chiapas, Mexico. The insurgents called themselves the Zapatista National Liberation Army
(EZLN) and this was their first public act after having prepared underground for at least 10
years. While some analysts discarded the uprising as the last Central American revolution,
it soon became apparent that the movement represented a significant departure from the
history of guerrilla struggle in Latin America. This thesis presents the EZLN as a social
movement that, instead of seeking inclusion into the system of formal politics, challenges
traditional politics by offering new ways of organizing social life and of viewing the world.
Recent theorizing on social movements in Latin America has emphasized culture as
an area that has been overlooked for too long. Social movement theorists have criticized the
"structural bias" that has dominated interpretations of rebellion and protest. It is argued that
culture provides an important link between socioeconomic structures and collective action.
Furthermore, contemporary social movements are argued to represent a discontinuity with
past movements and aim at creating new political spaces within civil society rather than
petitioning the state directly through corporatist channels. The use of culture by these
movements as a strategic weapon is preferred over operating within the political realm.
In contrast to contemporary social movement theorizing, much of the research on
the Zapatista uprising has focused on the political and economic structures that provided the
context for the movement's emergence. This research thus focuses on the terrain of culture.
It examines how cultural antagonisms, activist subcultures and master frameworks helped
provide linkage from structure to action and how the EZLN has strategically carried out
expressive actions on the level of culture to advance its project. I argue in this thesis that
analyzing socioeconomic structures remains fundamental for understanding a movement's
emergence. Nevertheless, researching cultural contexts deepens this understanding and
provides a linkage between socioeconomic structures and collective action.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my immediate family for their support and for taking care of
the administrative tasks that are necessary when living in two countries, especially to my
mother, Louise, brother, Steven, and for my father, Ron, who visited me twice while in
the field. I also want to thank my thesis director, Gerardo Otero, for his support and
friendship throughout the extended period of my Master's degree, also for his visits of
encouragement while I was in the field and for giving me the opportunity to include my
thoughts in a co-authored paper. Many thanks to Marilyn Gates for helping me set up my
research project and encouraging me to choose this topic when the Chiapas uprising still
seemed too fresh for in-depth research.
My relationship with Global Exchange allowed me to extend my stay in Mexico and
achieve a deeper understanding of the situation, for that I am very grateful. Most
importantly, by leading international delegations focused on human rights and fair trade, I
was able inspire others to take an interest and become involved. Thanks also to Global
Exchange for supporting my trip to Guadalajara to present a paper at the Latin American
Studies Association conference. My appreciation goes to the International Development and
Research Centre (IDRC) for providing me with a generous research grant to work in the
field and to the SFU Dean of Graduate Studies office for a travel award that allowed me to
present my initial research ideas at the 1994 Conference of the Canadian Association of
Mexican Studies in Calgary, Alberta.
Lastly, my deep gratitude goes to the many people of Chiapas, who took time out
while making a revolution to speak personally to me about their hopes and beliefs,
especially the EZLN members from Oventic, San AndrCs Larrainzar, "Sacamchen de 10s
Pobres" and the community of El Prado Pacayal, Ocosingo. This thesis is dedicated to
them and their struggle for democracy,justice and freedom.
Contents
The Zapatista Uprising: A Research Agenda
With the Zapatistas
The Initial Events
Reactions to the EZLN Uprising
A Theoretical Approach to Understanding the EZLN
Structure of Thesis
The Struggle for Cultural Identity: A History of Resistance
The Conquest and Construction of "the Other"
Colonization and Resistance in Chiapas
Independence. Revolution and Neo-Colonialism in Chiapas
Exodus to the Promised Land
The Ethnic Panorama
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Activist Subcultures and Regional Organizing: Dialogical Influences
Shifting Identities
The Church and Consciousness Raising
Indian-Peasant Organizing
The Formation of the EZLN
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Forming a Social Movement: Zapatista Expressions
The EZLN as a Social Movement
Winning Civil Society
.Relations with Government: Peace Talks
.Relations with Civil Society: Spectacle Events, Forums and Encounters
.Relations with the Media: The War of Words
Government Response: Low-Intensity Warfare
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37
44
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5 Constructing Zapatismo: Master Protest Frames
New Times
Erniliano Zapata and Peasant Struggle
Indigenous Resistance
National Liberation Movements
The Women's Struggle
The Environment and Human Rights
The EZLN and a New Internationalism
6 Conclusions: Bringing in Culture
Appendices
Appendix 1:Photographs
Appendix 2 Research Schedule
Appendix 3: Chronology of the Chiapas Peace Process
Appendix 4: E N .Government Peace Talk Agenda
Appendix 5: Maps
Chiapas in Mexico
Important towns and EZLN centres of resistance in Chiapas
Regions in Chiapas related to the conflict and the EZLN
Bibliography
The Zapatista Uprising:
A Research Agenda
"Takingover San Cristdbal was a poem "
Subcomandante Marcos, EZLN
The Zapatista uprising is often thought of as a spontaneous event when hundreds of Mayan
peasant rebels released decades of frustration with the rebel cry "Ya Basta" (Enough is
enough!). This picture, however, does not capture the conscious preparation and long-term
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strategic organizing that preceded the decision to revolt. This thesis seeks to interpret the
emergence of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) over its full trajectory: from
its incipient stages as a small group of mestizo intellectuals, constructing a guemlla army in
the eastern jungles of Chiapas, to its movement-building actions after 1994.
During the EZLN's initial years, organizers engaged in recruiting and training
thousands of Indian peasants. EZLN membership grew slowly and was facilitated by the
work of pre-movement organizations and activist subcultures, present in eastern Chiapas
since at least the 1960ji:'~~
1994, the EZLN's structure and original goals had profoundly
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changed due to the new post-Communist international context and through a syncretic mix
of its original ideological principles with the culture of its Indian membership.
The EZLN began its formal transformation from a guerrilla army to a social
movement when a cease-fire was called 12 days after the uprising. Having trained 10 years
to fight as a rebel army, it soon found itself in peace negotiations with the Mexican
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government, putting its weapons to the side to become a highly creative and innovative
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social movement. The
EZLN used the media as its weapon, expressing through its actions
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widely understood "master protest frames," that included indigenous resistance, women's
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rights and national liberation. This dissemination of shared meaning gave the movement's
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demands a high degree cultural resonance. In the days following the uprising, a broad array
of sympathetic citizens and organizations of civil society began to informally incorporate
themselves into the Zapatista movement.
I went to Chiapas trying to understand, characterize and explain the EZLN uprising
and the social movement that had developed around its demands. Much research had been
published on the uprising before I arrived and continued to be produced while I was in the
field. Yet none of the scholarship seemed to completely explain what I was experiencing as
a close observer from April 1995 to July 1W.
As a social phenomenon, the Zapatista movement incorporated distinct historical
traditions and was interpreted within various social science categories. The task of
choosing my own theory and methodology was perplexing. The first studies of the EZLN
uprising focused on the political and economic structures that provided the context for the
movement's emergence. Most importantly, these studies showed how the movement had
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arisen in response to such factors as heightened political repression, falling international
.a
coffee prices (the region's chief export) and the displacement of subsistence production by
the expansion of cattle grazing land (Harvey 1994; Otero, Scott, Gilbreth 1997).
My initial research also sought to determine the causes of the EZLN uprising. I
found that little attention had been given to the realm of culture. By culture 1 mean both
material objects and historically derived ideas and symbols that specifically relate to
questions of identity construction and the building of social movements. How were
thousands of Indian peasants inspired to rebel against the Mexican state, known for its
ability to coopt protest? How were thousands of others inspired to identify themselves with
the Zapatista struggle after the uprising? How did the uprising and the framing of the
Zapatista movement help to shape new identities and forms of struggle? Examining cultural
factors considered as both products of action and elements that condition further action,
helps answer these questions.
The thesis examines the ways in which culture--the social construction of new
collective identities--played a role in the emergence of the uprising, how a specific
movement culture was developed after 1994 and how the movement impacted culture
through its multiple forms of expression. I argue that interpreting these cultural factors
contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the roots of the uprising and adds to
political and economic analyses.
Examining the history of conquest and rebellion in Chiapas is necessary to
understanding how the native inhabitants of the land became "the Other." Moreover,
history helps to explain why many indigenous people in Chiapas are re-asserting their
customs and traditions, especially as a response to modernizing reforms that threaten their
ability to subsist.
The EZLN emerged within a rich context of liberation theology, independent
peasant movements and Maoist organizing. In contrast to the literature on peasant
rebellions, I see external leadership not as unilateral but rather in a dialogical relationship
where outside organizers were influenced mutually by their relationship with indigenous
communities.
I specifically interpret the EZLN as a social movement within the literature that deals
with questions of culture and identity. While there is a long tradition of scholarly theorizing
about Latin American revolutions, peasant rebellions and the emergence of guerrilla armies,
I argue that the EZLN
is best
*
- understood as a social movement.-.-By this I mean a group of
individuals, bound by a collective identity, engaging in social action and the construction of
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meanings, within the context of an underlying project aimed at changing key relations of
.power in society. The purpose of this study is to see the Zapatista movement within the
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literature that analyzes social movements "not as a 'thing' or an integrated whole, nor the
result of the characteristics of their social contexts, but as social processes that emerge and
develop, though in periods with different degrees of visibility" (Laraiia et a1 1994: 217).
Thus, within this conception the emergence of social movements is neither predetermined
nor completely self-willed, and the role of culture is crucial, mediating between structures
and collective action (Eyerman and Jamison 1989). Recent scholarship has made this
interpretation of social movements a key focus for collective protest in the Latin American
context (see Escobar and Alvarez eds. 1992).
The realm of culture is particularly important when examining how the EZLN
adapted culturally resonant master protest frames in the construction of new collective and
individual identities. The guiding ideas and principles behind these new identities are
referred to in this thesis as Zapatismo. The EZLN in its public expressions used these
frames to communicate the meaning of its struggle. In doing so they adapted international
discourses to the movement, which had the effect of reshaping the movement cultures of
independent organizations throughout Chiapas. Movement and participant identities were
transformed when connected to international networks that included discourses of human
rights, women's rights, environmentalism, and indigenous resistance among others.
With the Zapatistas
This thesis is based on more than two years of field interviews and participant
observation. While in Chiapas I worked as a journalist, member of the NGO (nongovernmental organization) community and as an international human rights observer. My
initial research approach was to attend EZLN events with the press corps and learn about
the movement as a non-partisan outsider. Nevertheless, as an observer in the civilian peace
camps I became more deeply attached to what I determined was a just struggle. In the
Zapatista communities, I saw that the movement was truly grassroots-based and quite
different from how it had sometimes been portrayed in the media. Subcomandante Marcos
was, to the outside world, the most visible Zapatista figure, but once in Chiapas I saw that
Zapatismo was the authentic expression of thousands of Mayan peasants. Most
importantly, I learned that the EZLN substantially diverged from the model of the typical
Latin American guerrilla army. As I explain in this thesis, its primary aim after 1994 was to
create a broad-based non-violent movement that would seek democratization through
peaceful means. Through my work with the San Francisco-based NGO, Global Exchange,
I became committed to advocating on behalf of the struggle of Mexican "civil society" to
bring the goals of the EZLN to light. I did this primarily through leading delegations of
North Americans to meet with some of the central actors fighting for change in Chiapas,
including cooperatives, local NGOs, human rights groups, political parties, church
representatives and members of the EZLN.
The material presented herein serves as an introduction to understanding the roots
of the Zapatista uprising and the EZLN as an organization. Attempting to understand a
movement when it is only beginning to reveal itself to the public is a difficult task. The data
from interviews with EZLN representatives regarding the internal organization of the
movement, its problems and the process of its development cannot be taken as the last truth
on the matter. Eventually when conditions of security exist, many more details will be
known. The information given here can only be taken as the discourse projected by the
movement between 1995and 1W as it entered the public arena in its search for new ways
of making politics.,
The experience I gained living in Chiapas, working with the press and international
solidarity networks was central to my understanding of the uprising. I was able to
interview members of the Zapatista movement at all levels, from top commanders to the
militia bases. I focused on interviewing Indian leaders of the EZLN, rather than
Subcomandante Marcos, in order to present the lesser heard side of the movement. The
interviews and direct observations gave me first-hand knowledge of how the movement
interpreted and responded to external events. Witnessing the trajectory of its actions over
time gave me a unique perspective that formed the basis of my thesis.
I have drawn on numerous disciplines to carry out this work including sociology,
anthropology and political science. Each chapter in itself could serve as a vast area for
deeper focus. The difficulty of this type of research is separating what is relevant from
what is not. There is also the problem of generalizing. In Chiapas, maybe even more so
than other regions, it is difficult to speak on a general level about "indigenous people", "the
Church", "liberation theology", or "the peasant movement." Each of these areas is a world
in itself, full of nuances with vast regional and ideological differences. Dealing with these
subject areas on a general level means that many of the subtleties will be glossed over. This
thesis attempts to present some of this diversity within the confines of time, space and
intellectual capacity.
In March 1996 I began to work with Global Exchange which gave an added
dimension to my research. I crossed the line from being an academic observer and
journalist to actively taking part in promoting the defense of human rights and teaching
international delegations about the relevance of the Zapatista struggle to their everyday
lives. In November 19%, the human rights situation took a turn for the worse as violence
struck the NGO community in San Cristobal. This situation made an "objective" analysis of
the situation very difficult; suddenly things seemed very black and white as many of my
colleagues received death threats and I became involved in human rights accompaniment
work. Through this experience I came to understand that in the context I was working in, I
could not stand aside as an "objective" observer for my own research purposes, but rather I
would participate along side other groups seeking just solutions. As an outside observer,
along with hundreds of other international solidarity activists, we could provide Mexican
popular organizers and human rights workers with a level of security to continue their
work. This was especially important in rural settings in the conflict zone where formal
"Peace Camps" had been set up to deter military incursions.
It is hoped that this analysis of the EZLN will be useful to those seeking new ways
of understanding rebellion and the emergence of social movements. Most importantly, I
hope this research can be used by social movement actors themselves by providing
examples of cultural action and its strategic importance. The EZLN has been highly
successful on certain levels within the cultural terrain, but has failed to resonate both
spatially and across social sectors throughout Mexico. In this age of "anti-politics" where
apathy regarding political systems seems to be a common attitude, new ways of practicing
politics on the social level, within civil society, are being tried. This research presents the
EZLN in its manifestation as a social movement, as a new experiment in the struggle for
democracy.
The Initial Events
The EZLN made its explosive entrance into Mexico's contemporary history on January 1,
1994. Indigenous peasants from Chiapas's highland and lowland Mayan communities
carried out a coordinated attack against government facilities in four major towns and
several smaller communities as the country's political and economic elite was celebrating
the official commencement of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Members of the Zapatista army took over and controlled San Cristdbal de las Casas
(100,000 inhabitants), Ocosingo (12,000), Altamirano (8,000) and Las Margaritas
(5,000). The Zapatistas declared war on the Mexican government and army, calling on
citizens to join the ranks of the EZLN and march on the capital to overthrow the
"illegitimate one-party system" upheld by the "dictator" President Carlos Salinas de Gortari
and install a transitional multi-party coalition until fair elections could be held. Instead of
justifying the uprising with a ready-made political ideology, the declaration asked the
civilian population to participate decisively in support of the struggle for "jobs, land,
housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and
peace" (Declaration of War, EZLN)
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The most important town taken during the uprisi& was San Cristdbal de las Casas,
the state's capital in the colonial period and considered the administrative centre of
Chiapas's highlands. Approximately 900 Zapatista militia soldiers entered San Crist6bal
before the break of dawn on New Years Day, 1994, taking the town's local inhabitants and
tourists by complete surprise. The Zapatista soldiers blocked the Pan-American Highway
and the city's entrances and exits, then took over the municipal hall and captured the local
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police and security force's offices.
By the time the local population woke up, the EZLN
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was in full control of the city. A communiquC containing the declaration of war and
revolutionary laws was distributed among local journalists and faxed all over Mexico and
throughout the world. According to later EZLN communiquCs the San Crist6bal operation
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was led by Major Ana Maria. Nonetheless, the figure who attracted the most attention was
a ladim (non-indigenous) spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, who strolled through
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San Crist6bal's central plaza speaking with a scrum of reporters and reassuring the local ,
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population that the EZLN would not harm them. Marcos said, "Any mess that we could'
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have made here, we would have done at dawn, when you were sleeping" (LaJomada, '
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January 19, 1994).Explaining the motivation behind the uprising, Marcos stated:
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We hope that the people understand that the causes that have moved us to do
this are just. The path that we have chosen is a just one but not the only one.
It may not even be the best of all paths. We only think that it is the one that
has to be taken and we invite all of the people to do the same; not to rise up
in arms, but to struggle for a government in Mexico that is truly free and
democratic and that can meet the aspirations of each and every person. We
do not want a dictatorship of another kind, not anything out of this world,
not international Communism or anything like that. We want justice where
there is now not even minimum subsistence. (La Jornada, January 19,
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1994)
The most violent confrontation~ookplace in the municipal capital of Ocosingo, a
provincial town serving as the centre for a broader region of cattle farmers and hundreds of
recently settled communities in a rugged area of canyons and jungle. An estimated 500-700
EZLN troops took part in the attack. They gathered in San Miguel having commandeered
vehicles to take them to Ocosingo over the previous days. The attack began at five in the
morning (Tello Diaz 1995). The police surrendered after many hours of fighting and the
municipal palace fell to the Zapatistas. The EZLN took over the local radio station and
played a cassette of the declaration of war alternating with dance music (Ross 1994). Cattle
ranchers would later claim that the voice they heard was Central American.
Zapatista troops were supposed to block the highway north of Ocosingo in order to
protect their comrades' retreat from the city. When this did not happen and Mexican
paratroopers began to block the exit leading to the canyons, the Zapatista troops found
themselves trapped in the city (Tello Diaz 1995). Fierce fighting took place and it is
believed that at least 50-60 Zapatista troops lost their lives. Five were found executed in the
Ocosingo market with their hands tied behind their backs. The number of federal soldiers
killed is unknown, as the bodies were removed before reporters were allowed to enter the
city. In the Lacandon canyons peasants sing a corrido (a popular song that tells a story) that
refers to 700 federal soldiers killed in Ocosingo, although the mainstream press refers to
153 deaths on both sides in the 12 days of fighting. Local NGOs put the number at 400 to
500 deaths.
The people of Altamirano had been warned for several days before the uprising that
something was being planned. Public security forces had been sent in to defend the city.
For several days Zapatista militia had been arriving in the community of Morelia in
preparation for the attack. On New Year's Day, 400 Zapatista militia marched on
Altamirano. The public security forces protecting the municipal hall were overcome in a
short battle in which several were killed and many injured. The San Carlos hospital
operated by nuns from the Saint Vincent de Paul order ministered to the injured. Once in
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control of the city, the EZLN militia read the declaratio
a and ra
;ed some homes
and stores belonging to members of the local oligarchy.
The taking of Las Margaritas resulted in a significant number of casualties for the
EZLN troops. The Zapatista militia united in the ejido Nuevo Mom6n for the march to Las
Margaritas. At 1:00 a.m., 300-600 Zapatista troops arrived at the municipal centre of Las
Margaritas. A short battle took place with the local security forces before the municipal hall
was taken. The attack was led by a mestizo who called himself Pedro. He was to secure
Las Margaritas before meeting with other troops to take the city of Comith, the commercial
centre for the region's cattle ranchers, but died in the shoot out in Las Margaritas. The
attack on Cornitin was called off (Tello Diaz 1995).
The Zapatistas also attacked and took over smaller towns and municipal capitals
throughout Chiapas, including Chanal, Oxchuc, Chalarn, Abasolo, San Andrks Larrainzar,
HuixtAn, Simojovel and Guadalupe Tepeyac. On January 2nd, they carried out an attack on
the Rancho Nuevo military base just outside San Crist6bal. One unit commandeered a
micro-bus in Oxchuc that was later intercepted on the way to join the attack on Rancho
Nuevo. Twelve Zapatista troops were killed along with a civilian bus driver and his son.
Their bodies were left on the side of the road for several days for reporters to photograph.
In the following days the federal army began a counter-offensive. Helicopters and
Swiss-made Pilatus aircraft equipped with rockets began to bombard the villages and
neighbourhoods surrounding San Cristbbal. There was widespread agreement of public
opinion that the army's response was exaggerated. Images of aircraft firing rockets towards
the south of San Crist6bal began to appear on national and international television. The
local population could see the bombardments taking place from their rooftops. Journalists
were fired at on numerous occasions. Bishop Samuel Ruiz called for a truce, denouncing
the summary execution of guerrillas caught by the army and trying to stop the counteroffensive from turning into a war of extermination. President Salinas called for a cease-fire
on January 12.
According to the revolutionary laws included in the First Declaration from the
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Lacandon Jungle and statements by EZLN spokespersons on January 1, 1994, the specific
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factors provoking the rebellion were changes in Article 27 of the Mexican constitution,
dealing with land tenure reform, and the implementation of NAFTA. The main grievance
was c o n c d a b o u t reforms to the special category of land tenure known as the ejido, a
of the Mexican Revolution. The reforms meant that the land could be sold,
gaged or leased for the first time. Furthermore, land reform had been declared
finished, and a backlog of petitioners were told to give up their hopes for new lands and
titles. These reforms were part of a broad dismantling of the state's support for the
agricultural sector in the wake of the 1982 debt crisis (Gates 1993, 19%). In Chiapas the
fall of international coffee prices in conjunction with the removal of state support for coffee
farmers also had a devastating effect (Harvey 1994).
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In addition to these economic factors,
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subsequent early documents, reveals that the EZLN also chose to frame the rebellion in
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terms of ethnic identity. The opening line of the declarathn of war states: "we are the
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product of 500 years of struggle." In a communiquC directed to the international press on
January 6,1994, the General Command of the EZLN providgd its own self-definition:
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T)ie commanders and troops of the EZLN are mostly Indians from Chiapas.
)his is because the indigenous people of Mexico represent the poorest and
most humiliated sector of Mexico, but also, as can be seen, the most
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dignified. We are thousands of armed indigenous people and behind us are
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tens of thousands of our families. Therefore, there are tens of thousands of
indigenous peoples in struggle. The government says that this is not an
indigenous uprising, but we believe that if thousands of indigenous people
rise up in arms, then yes, it is an indigenous uprising (Autonomedia 1994:
80).
,
While Subcomandante Marcos was viewed as the chief spokesperson for the Zapatista
Army, this was not to take away from the indigenous collective leadership called the
Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee (CCRI). Marcos explains his role in
relation to the CCRI in a communiquC dated January 20,1994:
I have the honour of having as my superiors the best women and men of the
Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Mam, and Zoque ethnic groups. I have
lived with them for more than 10 years and 1 am proud to obey them and
serve them with my arms and my life [...I They are my commanders and I
will follow them along whatever paths they choose. They are the collective
and democratic leadership of the EZLN [.. .I (Autonomedia 1994: 115).
1
Despite the EZLN's clear intent to emphasize ethnic identity, it also sought to mobilize
diverse sectors of society outside the Indian communities. In the same cornrnuniquC Marcos
wrote:
What the EZLN seeks for the indigenous inhabitants of Chiapas is the same
thing that should be sought by all honest organizations in the whole country
for all Mexicans. What the EZLN seeks with arms, should be sought by all
honest organizations with different forms of struggle (Autonomedia 1994:
115).
,
The EZLN's national strategy sought to mobilize the opposition forces within "civil
ety" rather than take over state power. By civil society I refer specifically to the use of
the term since it was evoked during the struggle for democracy against state socialism in
Eastern Europe--as a space for social groups outside authoritarian structures (J. Hall 1995).
This civil society strategy would be clearly pronounced in the Second Declaration from the
Lacandon Jungle issued in April 1994 and later voiced during the National Democratic
Convention held before the presidential elections in August 1994. The uprising was not a
call to arms and violence; rather, it was a means of awakening the progressive forces of
civil society to provide an impulse for democratic change.
It is this strategic factor that makes a cultural interpretation of the movement an
important tool for understanding. The EZLN's public expressions since 1994 have
provided a constant flow of new scenes, each laden with symbolism and meaning for
external consumption. The movement's cultural impact was unprecedented. EZLN
communiquCs were translated into many languages and made accessible via the internet to
an international audience. Examining the EZLN as a social movement highlights the
uniqueness and originality of its actions.
Reactions to the EZLN Uprising
In response to the Chiapas uprising, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Mexico
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.
--
*
,.r->.%--
-.
.I*I__
--.a-
City, joining national and international human rights groups in denouncing the military's
heavy-handed response. The international press criticized the Mexican government's use of
the Air Force to strafe and rocket villages indiscriminately and for carrying out summary
*
--
'
--
*-
-.--*-.=,-
.?,a*-
"-
executions. T h e - ~ e x i c a nstock index fell 6.32% on January 10 (La Botz 1995:8).
President Carlos Salinas found himself in a difficult situation -initially refemng to the
Zapatista insurgents as "professionals of violence" and "transgressors of the law," by
January 12th he was calling for a cease-fire and negotiations. Days earlier he had fired
- - .
/
Interior Minister Patrocinio Gonzilez Garrido, who was on leave from his elective post as
Governor of Chiapas. Such immediate responses in Mexican politics sparked spectacular
reactions. Roger Bartra, a noted intellectual of the left, stated: "The war in Chiapas has
provoked the strongest political and cultural shakeup that the Mexican system has suffered
in the last quarter century" (cited in MCndez and Cano 19%: 11).
Internationally, the uprising was interpreted by many as a reaction to neoliberalism
and globalization. While speaking to reporters in San Crist6bal's plaza on January lst,
Subcomandante Marcos said, "Today NAFTA begins, which is nothing more than a death
sentence to the indigenous ethnic groups of Mexico, who are perfectly dispensable in the
modernization program of Salinas de Gortari" (Autonomedia 199468). One graffiti slogan
I/
left by the Zapatistas in San Crist6bal said, "We don't want free trade. We want Freedom!"
(MCndez and Cano 19%:22). Noam Chomsky wrote: "The forces that are taking command
I
I
of the international economy are mounting a very serious threat to freedom, democracy and
social justice, which calls for popular resistance on a global scale. The Zapatistas have
provided an inspiring example of forms it might take" (Autonomedia 1994). Another
observer wrote in a pamphlet, "Chiapas is the first armed battle against the Global Market
and simultaneously [. . .] for Democracy" (Cooper 19942).
Nationally, the uprising shook the confidence that the ruling Institutional
-,
Revolutionary Party (PRI) was taking into the 1994 election year. The PRI was facing a
-
crisis of legitimacy that had reached its height in 1988 after it was widely accused of blatant
'
fraud in the national elections that brought President Salinas to power with an official
50.7%of the vote (the lowest in the PRl's history). NAFTA was supposed to provide the
PRI with a renewed legitimacy to take into the 1994 elections. The reforms that Salinas had
carried out during his six-year term were profound, reversing decades of statist and
'I
/
C
nationalistic policies in just a few years (Otero 19%). He privatized 252 state-run
companies, including national banks and Telmex (Mexican Telephone Company). The
\
\
privatizations netted about $23 billion in state reserves and massively reduced government
subsidies to hundreds of money-losing firms (Oppenheimer 19%:9). One Newsweelc
,/
.
-
-3
/
journalist observed that "Salinas has worked hard to convert Mexico's socialist, nationalist
economy into a capitalist, pro-American economy open to international trade" (Thomas
1993: 10). A Forbes journalist wrote: "You can't any longer think of Mexico as the Third
World" (cited in Oppenheimer 199693). After the uprising, a harsh re-interpretation of
I
Mexico's socioeconomic reality began. One Mexican writer remarked, "Just when we were
telling the world and ourselves that we were looking like the U.S., we turn out to be
Guatemala." Heberto Castillo, a noted member of Congress for the centre-left PRD (Party
of the Democratic Revolution) declared: "Those who applauded our growing economy
>ympically
[...I
ignored that while the rich got richer, the nation got even poorer'' (cited in
Cooper 19942).
i/
Locally, the Zapatista uprising was the culmination of more than 20 years of
--.----,
&dependent peasant struggle, and another manifestation of a long history of regional
/indigenous
-
resistance. According to Carlos Montemayor (1997), armed revolutionary
h v e m e n t s have existed without interruption in Mexico for at least 30 years. Recent
in Article 27 of the Federal Constitution meant that land reform had come to an end
outstanding land claims were no longer valid (Harvey 1996). For many Indian
this meant an end to their traditional way of life based on subsistence farming with
corn as the staple crop. The Zapatista uprising was the indigenous response to centuries of
subordination. After the Spanish conquest and colonization, the indigenous inhabitants of
Chiapas suffered slavery and debt peonage and throughout the 20th century they continued
\
to serve as the maids and farm hands for the local ladino population. Comandante
Hortencia said: "I became a Zapatista to struggle for my people, so that one day there will
be justice and peace in Mexico" (interview with author March 19%).
To the local ladinos, the uprising represented the feared indiada, the rebellion of the
"savage Indians" who would come to rob, rape and pillage. The towns of Sadrist6ba1,
Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas are islands of mestizo populatisris surrolrhded by
oceans of indigenous communities, most of them in conditions afkxtremi poverty. The
ladinos see themselves as naturally superior to the indigenous p-wle. One representative of
the Family Development Agency (DIF), a resident of*San Crist6bal with 20 years'
experience working in indigenous communiti~s,told an international delegation: "Before
gh
-
the uprising, there was a harmonious relationship between the indigenous people and the
.p
ladinos. They worked in our h~rfiesand we treated them like we would our children"
.f
(November 19%). EZLNGomandante Susana, a highland Tzotzil speaker said: "When we
*/
go into the big citydey see us as nothing more than indios I...],
they curse us for being
/I
indigenous pdople as if we were animals
[...I,
we are not seen as equal to the mestizo
woypn4nterview with author March 1996).
The uprising also set in motion a wave of land takeovers. In much of the region
known as the conflict zone (the municipalities of Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las
Margaritas), lands were taken over by peasants in search of ways to improve their living
standards. While peasants had been carrying out land takeovers since the 1970s, the
uprising served to politicize them and escalate the struggle. Also, in many cases landlords
simply abandoned their lands out of fear, given the conditions of uncertainty. Some of
these lands remain abandoned although they have been looted of their livestock and work
implements. In other cases, the lands have been taken over, or "recuperated" and new
/--
/' communities have been built. A representative from the New Settlement MoisCs-Gandhi,
/
municipality of Ocosingo, explained:
%\
,
'\
I
I
I
1
\
)'
i
This property belonged to our grandparents who spoke Tzeltal but could not
communicate in Spanish. Because of this, they were cheated out of the land.
The corn fields were converted into a large cattle ranch and our grandfathers
were made to work as peons, eventually being forced to a small piece of
land in the hills to work as their own. When our fathers were born there
was not enough land. Many families had to seek work as peons on other
plantations. We had to live in other communities. That is why we did not
steal this land. When the owners left after the uprising, we recuperated it as
our own. (Interview with author October 1996)
The Zapatista uprising thus inflamed the relations between the local Indian
communities and the ladino populations. There was much resistance by ladinos to the idea
hhat Indians would become full members of Mexican society in a place where a colonial
mentality still exists. A cattle rancher who had abandoned his land located deep in Zapatista
temtory said:
The Indians do not want to work because they are lazy. Zapata was right
when he said, "Land for those who work it" but he forgot to add "for those
who want to work it" and "for those who know how to work it
productively." (interview with author December 19%).
It was this attitude of arrogance that the EZLN sought to address by rebelling.
Indian peasants became emboldened and land "recuperations" were carried out on a
massive scale during 1994. The image of the rebel indigenous figure swept Chiapas. San
Crist6bal's Tzotzil women street vendors adapted their artwork to the new era by sewing
ski masks on the traditional dolls and carving wooden rifles to put in their hands. The new
Zapatista dolls were an instant commercial success. The women and children who sell them
are very proud to explain which Zapatista commander is represented by each doll. Many
highland communitiesbecame Zapatista sympathizers after 1994.
Finally, the uprising changed Chiapas's social and political landscape. Indigenous
people were finally going to be listened to, whether the local population wanted to listen or
not. But this brought thousand of federal troops and the construction of dozens of new
military camps throughout the jungle and highlands. Indigenous rural communities would
begin to live with a permanent military presence: constant foot and air patrols, harassment,
prostitution, alcohol and drugs. Armored vehicles, tanks and troop transport trucks have
taken over Chiapas's highways and constantly patrol Zapatista support base communities.
Communities living in conditions of desperation were divided over whether to accept
government handouts. The strategy of divide and conquer immediately polarized many
communities disrupting the movement's momentum.
A Theoretical Approach to Understanding the EZLN
Neil Harvey (1994) and George Collier
(1994) published
some of the first studies
- .re
,-"
--
..""
.
n
.
of the Zapatista uprising, analyzing the historical, political and economic conditions from
+--'
*
,
which the movement had emerged, based on their past research on Chiapas. The early
i
in$;etations
by Mexican intellectuals (e.g. Luis Hemgndez, Antonio Garcia de LeQ)
/provided important counter-arguments to the government's simplistic analysis, which
,'
i
blamed the Church's pastoral y ~ A.UI
& ~ ~ ~ a l ~ - a ~ ~ ~ m a l r i -thenative
putating
population into rebellion. Research carried out by Carlos Tello Diaz (1995) focused on
explaining the EZLN's emergence but was criticized for its "police investigation style"
methodology, being more intent on uncovering the names of Zapatista leaders than trying to
understand broader social processes. John Ross (1994) gave a detailed journalist's account
-*"
' --'
'
'
of the first six months of the uprising. Carlos Montemayor (1997) placed the EZLN within
Mexico's history of guerrilla struggle and indigenous activism, while Yvonne Le Bot
(1997), having participated in the "Intergalactic" Encounter for Humanity and Against
Neoliberalism, sought to capture the general discourse of Zapatismo.
A study of the political and economic conditions that provided the context for the
"....,
,
EZLN's emergence is fundamental for understanding the movement. Nevertheless an
equally important feature is the role of culture, which has not been fully treated in previous
k y s e s i f the uprising and has become an important theme for studies of social
movements. McAdam argues that recent theorizing "has located the roots of social
movements in some set of political, economic, or organizational factors". This "structural
bias," however, ignores cultural factors "as important constraints or facilitators of collective
action" (199437).
Antonio Gramsci was one of the most important theorists to study the role of
culture and civil society in the success of a revolution. According to Marx, the socialist
revolution was to occur in the most advanced capitalist societies; at the time he wrote,
Britain was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. As industrialization became more
adv ced, Marx theorized that the gap between the owners of the means of production
/i
urgeoisie) and the workers in the factories (proletariat) would- widen until the workers
rose up to take over the state, creating new relations of production and a new revolutionary
society. In the 1920s, when Gramsci was a member of the Italian Communist party and
attempting to understand the situation, he used the 1917 Russian revolution as a case that
contradicted Marx's original theory. Gramsci noted that the revolution had occurred in a
largely rural and feudalistic state, rather than one with highly developed capitalist relations
of production.
In order to explain this outcome, Gramsci theorized that in societies such as Czarist
Russia, the state was everything. It ruled using repression instead of consent. In this case a
small group of revolutionary insurgents were capable of overthrowing the state because it
itimacy. In the case of advanced capitalist societies, Gramsci studied the
between the state and civil society, noting how the "bourgeois hegemony" had
culture and civil society. The bourgeoisie had become a "hegemonic" class,
--
because it ruled not only through repression, but also by consensus. He determined that, in
order for revolution to succeed in such societies, a cultural strategy had to be employed that
would convince civil society to support the revolution. An alternative hegemonic project to
that of the bourgeoisie had to be advanced within civil society.
Laclau and Mouffe (1985)took this conception further with a critique of the class
reductionist bias within the Marxist tradition, arguing that the potential for change may
come from a multiplicity of social actors within civil society. The critique of economic
determinism is not new and has been debated throughout the 20th century. Many social
ts, however, continue to focus exclusively on the realm of economic and political
ctural conditions as the determining factors in the emergence of social movements and
\J/rebellions.
Within U.S. social movement theories, there is a field that examines how
emerging political opportunities prompt the emergence of a social movement.
While this approach is important it ignores the rich field of culture as an important
factor. Theorists of Latin American (and other) social movements, however, have recently
introduced the concept of culture to properly understand social movements (Slater 1985,
Escobar 1992).
Diane Davies (1994: 377) critiques research within the "new social movement"
theoretical paradigm for ignoring the seminal works on peasant rebellions and revolution
>,whichfocus on the conditions under which such collective action emerges. The most
important of these works by Barrington Moore, Eric Wolf, Jeffrey Paige and Theda
Skocpol focus on the state, political parties, agrarian structures, the global economy and
class structures (Skocpol 1982). This thesis seeks to compliment the literature on peasant
rebellions by adding an analysis of the cultural dimension, particularly by focusing on the
--
actors involved and the influences that shaped the movement.
The shortcoming of theories that focus on political and socio-economic structures
alone is that there is rarely equilibrium within most of the world's capitalist systems and the
conditions that have the potential to produce social movements are relatively constant. In
addition, critics have questioned grand theories that attempt to isolate class relations and
economic factors across diverse cultural and historic contexts. Thus, by adding an
V
interpretation of the cultural realm, the goal of this thesis is to understand how culture
relates to a movement's emergence, and contributes to a movement's success and
development of new collective identities.
Michael Keamey (19%)argues that the concept of "peasant" is a class category that
--
-
no longer describes most rural people in Latin America, who increasingly rely on other
sources of income beyond the subsistence farming that was the norm for the historical
'
,@easant.Contemporary rural "peasants" are part-time workers, artisans and migrants, and
,/
/
thus embody multiple identities. This is certainly the case in Chiapas. My usage of the term
"peasant" in this thesis thus does not exclusively refer to the traditional subsistence farmer
with pre-assigned "conservative" political interests as first discussed in Marx's Eighteenth
Brumaire. "Peasant" in this thesis is a more generic term for small non-surplus producing
-.
23
farmers, artisams and rural work;ers from the countryside, as conveyed by the Spanish term
campesino.
Class analyses that assign ~priori"political interests" to groups or individuals in
relation to their position in the socioeconomic structure view people as homogeneous
entities. An exclusive focus on class does not take into account the "multiple subject
positions" that go into the formation of political interests, which may include gender, race,
?p/.' nationality and territoriality. Thus it is becoming increasingly clear that class analysis on its
own has become "insufficient as a way of accounting for contemporary social conflicts"
(Laclau 198529). Nevertheless, as David Slater (1994) points out, class analysis can
certainly not be abandoned altogether. It is most usefully employed in conjunction with a
study of other points of antagonism.
George Collier (1994) posited that the Zapatista uprising was "primarily a peasant
rebellion". Neil Harvey (19942) also came out with an initial interpretation that focused on
how peasants had become radicalized in response to modernizing rural reforms. Harvey
/'
chawerized the uprising as essentially "a rural rebellion" in reference to the long tradition
/
pieasant
i
protagonism in Mexico. Both studies argued that land issues were the most
important elements for understanding the uprising and examined the position of rural
populations in the highlands and eastern lowlands in the prevailing agrarian structures and
within the context of changing agrarian policies, agricultural conditions and rural protest.
Their findings showed that the overall impact of neoliberal policies was negative for the
rural populations. Threats to peasants' livelihoods were argued to be important causes of
the rebellion. These analyses were based on evaluations of the historical and socioeconomic
factors facing the rural population but also took into account part of the EZLN's own
definition of the situation it faced.
Culture was an important element in the construction of the EZLN's collective
identity and in its conversion from a rebel army to a broad-based social movement through
symbolic public expressions. According to recent interpretations of collective action
(McAdam 1994, Selbin 1992), people's choices and the meanings they apply to their
situations mediate in the space between structural conditions and action. The role of culture
in the emergence of a social movement helps us understand why structural conditions may
produce an armed rebellion in one case but not in another under similar conditions. Why
did the Zapatista uprising occur in Chiapas and not another equally poor and repressed
region of Latin America? We can understand these differences by focusing on cultural
contexts.
Recent theorizing on the social movements that have arisen since the 1%0s brings
..
-
d--
up many issues that help us understand the EZLN. These contemporary movements have
t'
J been described as "new democratic struggles" (Mouffe 1988), employing new ways of
doing politics. This theorizing reflects both a change in the general characteristics of the
movements and in the way that researchers analyze them. The centrality of class has given
way to a broader perspective that rejects the view of social agents as a "unified,
-+*homogenous
/
entity" (Laclau 1985: 31). Following this view I argue that those who identify
themselves as members of the EZLN are not a homogenous group. The reasons for
rebelling are many and come from a multiplicity of "subject positions." Within the
discourse of Zapatismo many points of antagonism can be discerned and it is precisely this
diversity of struggle that has allowed the EZLN to capture the world's attention.
Contemporary social movements have also been interpreted as responses to political
-
systems that are increasingly seen as narrow and exclusive. The myth of modem politics is
that each individual can participate equally in decisions. According to the pluralist paradigm
I
(Dahl 1%7), the political system plays the role of arbiter and provides channels for
aggrieved groups to present their demands. In this context, early social movement theorists
saw collective action outside political institutions as irrational behaviour and sought
interpretationswithin the field of mass psychology for explanation (Gurr 1970). This way
of seeing collective action has been camed over into recent notions of modem politics that
argue that political systems have evolved to a level where only fine-tuning is required.
Politics in the modem age is seen as being mostly concerned with governability and
techniques of government as the only real spaces for contention and political struggle. Thus
politics becomes an activity for professionals rather than for popular participation. Yet
movements that participated outside conventional institutional channels were explained by
referring to structural changes that cause a breakdown in the organs of social control or in
the adequacy of normative integration (Cohen 1%5: 671).
Many social theories have been exported south but it is important to realize that
Latin America provides a very different context for modern politics where,
authoritarianism, state repression and vast disparities in income create obstacles to the
participation of broad social sectors. In Mexico the corporatist model has been the central
feature of the political system. The system attempted to provide channels for workers' and
peasants' participation through mass organizations that enjoyed direct access to the state.
The corporatist system managed to create stability until the student massacre in 1%8 ignited
an explosion of independent grassroots struggles that brought about a crisis of legitimacy
for the Mexican state.
In this context, social movements within the modernization paradigm are seen as
-.
".-
seeking inclusion into narrow political systems that have in turn marginalized their voices.
_
Of the Zapatistas, Tom Barry (1995: 159) writes: "the EZLN was not postmodernist
.-..-.-__ _but
_
i
-
espoused modernist goals that mirrored the traditional modernizing demands of most other
6
4
' \
campesino organizations for increased services, infrastructure, and inclusion in the
country's economic advancement." This view can be sustained by refemng to the EZLN's
" 11-point demands" for work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence,
freedom, democracy,justice, and peace ( E N Declaration of War).
In addition to these points, however, the EZLN also speaks of becoming part of the
Mexican nation for the first time. Comprising mostly Indians, it seeks the same rights and
privileges enjoyed by other non-Indian Mexicans. Moreover its demands reflect a much
broader discourse, making a call for tolerance and a recognition of diversity. Barry
(1995:146) also points out that what sets the EZLN apart from the peasant movement is its
incorporation of demands for local and national democracy. In this sense, the EZLN
represents much more than the "modernist goals" represented by the 11 points.
If the EZLN were limited to a modernist discourse, then it would settle for the
liberal notion of "equality" for all before the law. Yet, the movement's public expressions
since 1994 represent a broader discourse. One of the arguments in this thesis is that the
EZLN's discourse reflects both modem and postmodern demands. The latter involve
demandsfor the recognition and respect of ethnic, religious, and ithe;;
A
-q--
--
-8
-,,
differences--
,+-
not just equality before the law, but recognition of the right to autonomy and diversity.
Comanadante David, a leading indigenous spokesperson for the EZLN, explains it as
follows:
The government fears that every time we speak of autonomy that what we
want is to separate, to create a country within a country. The government
does not understand that what we want is to create a nation where everyone
fits; a country where everyone has a place and where each one has the same
rights without regard to whether they are ladinos, members of an opposition
<-#-
party or independent organization, or hold a different religion. We want to
createa country where we all fit, where we see each other as brothers and
sisters, and where the wealth of the country can be shared with everyone.
This is what we want and in no way does it involve separating from the rest
of the country. (interview with author March 19%)
This vision of the EZLN thus expresses the need for inclusion by actors who see
themselves as left out and underrepresented by the conventional institutional channels. At
the same time, something more fundamental seems to be at stake in the Zapatista
movement. Following Eyerman and Jamison (1991: 149), "in that they represent
challenges to established routines of 'doing politics' new social movements offer the
possibility of new projects, new ways of viewing the world and of organizing social life,
*
which is something more than inclusion." Through its expressions as a social movement,
convoking international "encounters," discussion forums and counter-cultural celebration
events, the EZLN has opened new democratic spaces outside traditional political ones. This
strategy brings in an element of post-modem philosophy.
The demands of the EZLN and its strategy for achieving them make it stand out
from previous armed national liberation movements. Its mix of master protest frames and
historical traditions is not necessarily as new as it might first appear. Several guemlla
armies in Latin America have had large contingents of indigenous combatants such as
Sendero Luminoso in Peru and the URNG in Guatemala. It is also not new that the EZLN
would take the name of a historic revolutionary fighter like Emiliano Zapata, in the same
way that Agusto Sandino and Farabundo Marti were used in Central America. The most
&'-"*-.,.
.
-
*
.
original element of the EZLN, by comparison with other rebel armies, is its claiming of a
- .
radical interpretation of liberal democracy.
- The Zapatista Army does not aspire TG t a E
power using revolutionary violence, instead it seeks to expand democratic spaces within
, "
%
civil society. During the initial uprising it called on Mexicans to overthrow the PRI
government and install a pluralistic coalition that would oversee the holding of true
democratic elections.
The EZLN seems to have taken up the call of Laclau and Mouffe (1985: 176): "The
task of the Left therefore cannot be to renounce liberal-democratic ideology, but on the
contrary, to deepen and expand it in the direction of a radical and plural democracy." This
element makes the EZLN substantially different from other revolutionary armies in Latin
America. Since the uprising, the EZLN has developed a clear vision for Mexico. Its focus
is on mobilizing civil society (the uncoopted sectors of Mexican society) behind the
demands foi democracy, indigenous rights, autonomy and economic justice.
The ethnic demands \withinthe movement have become an important element. This
is seen when comparing the EZLN with a traditional independent campesino organization.
The Emiliano Zapata Peasant Organization (OCEZ), for example, still carries on its
campesino demands and militancy, while expressing sympathy and solidarity with the
-.
Zapatistas. Its self-identification with its Indian identity is an important characteristic of the
>
r.
-*
EZLN: This became apparent to me after observing the dialogue process in 1995,
participating in several indigenous forums sponsored by the EZLN and interviewing militia
members and several central indigenous leaders, including Comandante David, a Tzotzil
leader and the primary spokesperson for the EZLN negotiating team. Mayan peasants
affiliated with the EZLN had important ethnic demands to put on the table.
The EZLN's emergence can be seen in the continuity of an activist subculture of
resistance. The roots of the movement can be dated as far back as the Spanish conquest of
Tenochtitliin in 1521 and of Chiapas by Diego Mazariegos in 1528. The struggle by
indigenous people for dignity has been a cons
it ever since. The Zapatista army sees itself
as a continuation of this history of struggle. This thesis presents a picture of the individuals
who make up the Zapatista Army and support bases. Many EZLN interviews have been
made public but this thesis tries to place such testimonies within a theoretical and
interpretative framework, informed by first-hand observations of the movement's
expressions and the reactions to them over a period of more than two years.
In order to generate a deeper understanding of the role of culture in the emergence
and trajectory of the EZLN as a social movement, I have oriented the data around three
general issues: first, how culture played a role in the emergence of the Zapatista uprising;
second how the EZLN developed its movement culture after the 1994 uprising; and third,
the cultural consequencesof the movement.
Structure of the Thesis
Chapter Two examines the historical and cultural issues that provided the context
for the emergence of the EZLN. The history of conquest and colonization that displaced
indigenous identity are essential features for understanding the uprising. Chapter Two also
presents the broader question of identity subordination in the emergence of social
movements. Beyond economic relations and class, identity can play an important catalytic
role in explaining action. Following Mouffe (1989) and McAdam (1994), one of the
cultural issues that can create conditionsfor the emergence of new collective identities is the
contradiction between highly resonant cultural values and conventional social practices. I
thus examine this phenomenon at various points in the regional history of Chiapas.
Chapter Three examines the role of the long-standing activist subcultures that were
present in Chiapas since at least the 1960s. These organizing activities are presented as pre-
movements. The subcultures created by these movements served as "half-way houses" for
the eventual emergence of the Zapatista uprising. The suppressed organizations served as
antecedents to the birth of the new Zapatista movement. In particular, the autochthonous
church and Indian-peasant organizing were important precursors.
\
1
. , '%
Chapter Four studies the post-uprising conversion of the EZLN from a rebel army
to a social movement. It examines both the elaboration of the strategic discourse of
Zapatismo and how the EZLN has constructed its particular social movement culture
through public expressions. These expressions are divided into three categories revolving
around the EZLN's relationship with the government through peace talks, its relationship
with civil society supporters through encounters, forums, and counter-cultural events and,
finally, its relationship with mainstream society through communiqu6s and media events.
Chapter Five examines the EZLN's strategic use of "master protest frames" to align
support behind common popular struggles. The EZLN has combined at least five different
frames into its discourse as a social movement. The appropriation of the symbol of Zapata
and the peasant struggle, 500 years of resistance and indigenous rights, the symbol of Che
Guevara and the armed national liberation movement, women's rights and finally ecology
and human rights. The manipulation and strategic application of these discourses are
essential features for explaining the widespread support received by the movement after its
public life began on January 1, 1994.
Chapter Six concludes the thesis by tying the data together in an analysis of the
overall role of culture in understanding the EZLN as a social movement. After summarizing
how the data illuminate the first two central issues of the thesis, it addresses the final
question of how the social movement culture developed by the EZLN has influenced
mainstream society.
The Struggle for Cultural Identity:
A History of Resistance
"We are the product of 500 years of struggles."
Declaration of War -- EZLN
This chapter presents the historical background to the uprising and an introduction to the
diversity and rich past of the people who make up the Zapatista movement. It draws on the
regional history of Chiapas and in particular on moments of rebellion and discontent that
represented a refusal to accept colonization and the spiritual conquest. Control over the
direction of the Indian's identity was threatened by restrictions against indigenous
languages, worldviews and religious rituals. Social historians have traditionally inferred the
identity of historical actors "directly from the everyday organization of production and
reproduction" (Tilly 19%: 4). Yet recent challenges from postmodern critics have inspired
a new analysis focused on multiple identities - race, ethnicity, religion, gender, etc. In this
case, I propose to examine the history of resistance by the original inhabitants in relation to
ethnic identity as one component of a multiple identity.
When different cultural groups come into contact the process of acculturation can
play out under a range of conditions. Cultural elements may be exchanged under conditions
of mutual respect where all groups are enriched in the process or they can be imposed by
violent means from a dominant culture, resulting in the impoverishment of one of the
cultures. The case of the conquest of the Americas is one of negative acculturation (Le6nPortilla: 9). The Spanish colonizers imposed elements and institutions of their culture under
conditions of violence, obliging the original inhabitants of the "New World" to
fundamentally change their belief system in addition to surrendering their human and
natural resources to the service of the Spanish empire. Thus resistance has become part of
what may be described as "being Indian," as indigenous peoples struggle to resist "social
and cultural assimilation into the bottom-most economic strata of colonial and republican
social orders" (Field 1990: 239).
In 18th-century Chiapas, after a widespread rebellion by Indian subjects was put
down by colonial authorities, Father Ximhez wrote about the role of the Church in
pacifying the subdued rebels:
The points upon which our sermons concentrated were [...I the hardness of
their hearts, because 200 years of instruction in God's law had not taken
hold in their hearts; I...] how much better they lived under the rule of the
King of Spain than in pagan times under Moctezuma; [...I and their origins,
descended from the Jews whom God had punished for their idolatry and
who later came to these lands by unknown routes [....I (Wasserstrom
1983536).
This form of evangelism sought to negate indigenous religiosity by placing it within a
Christian framework that rejected their culture as "heathen". They became the "Jews" of the
New Testament, and only worthy of forgiveness by surrendering before the Christian God.
They were told that their suffering was nothing "beside the agonies which Christ had
suffered on their behalf' (Wasserstrom 1983:86).Finally, the Church's version of history
showed the Spanish colonial regime as benevolent compared to the dominant pre-Hispanic
powers. This was the intellectual battle for the indigenous mind.
The idea of this chapter then is to portray the Zapatista rebellion within a trajectory
of resistance to the ongoing threat to the reproduction of indigenous identities. The original '
inhabitants were not only struggling against the Spanish institutions that confiscated Indian
territories and resources but also against the imposition of a new order that erased their
distinctive identities from the construction of the nation. This chapter presents a historical
narrative of conquest and the creation of "the Other," followed by a brief look at the
domination and resistance that occurred under colonial and republican regimes. Finally the
chapter provides a description of the resulting diversity of contemporary Indian culture in
Chiapas.
The Conquest and Construction of "the Other"
Until 1519 European explorers and conquistadors had only come across smaller bands of
hunter-gatherer societies in the New World. In contrast, when Hernin CortCs approached
the Aztec capital of Tenochtitldn, where modern Mexico City now lies, he discovered an
agriculturally based society with a city equivalent in size to large European cities of its day.
There was a highly developed social structure and specialization of activities, including
artists, intellectuals, religious men, kings, architects, labourers and slaves. Vast trade
networks extended as far south as Central America and north into what is today the
southwest United States.
Two years later Tenochtitlin was seized by the Spanish empire. In less than a
century this civilization would be reduced from a population of 12-15 million to just over 1
million (Berdan 1982: 172) and its inhabitants would be relegated to the role of slave and
peon to the Spanish colonizer. Thus massacre, disease, overwork and undernourishment
resulted in millions of deaths. Along with the military conquest came an intellectual
confrontation. Christianity supplanted native beliefs and forms of worship. Hundreds of
books would be destroyed by inquisitional fires and the achievements of an entire
civilization would be lost both to its creators and to the rest of the world.
The conquest of the Aztecs did not complete the subjugation of the lands of Mexico.
The Spanish invaders were able to topple the Aztec ruling elite and place themselves as the
beneficiaries of tribute and slave labour. Many regions, however, still remained outside
their control. This was the case of the region known today as Chiapas. The Aztec trading
network had extended as far south as the Central American isthmus, yet the empire only
encompassed the coastal region of Chiapas known then and today as the Soconusco.
Chiapas's central valleys, highlands and jungles were inhabited by other nations outside the
control of the Aztec empire, most of them descendants of the Mayan
civilization which had
reached its cultural and political apogee in 600 to 900 AD before suddenly collapsing (Wolf
1958).
The Mayan people did not disappear with this "collapse" nor did they disappear
with the conquest of Chiapas by Spanish invaders during the 16th century. The
descendants of the Mayan civilization continue to practice non-Western traditions and
continue to resist a system that relegates them culturally, politically and economically to the
margins. Centuries of rebellions have been chronicled and certainly the Zapatista uprising
can be seen as part of this history.
Most Indians in Chiapas live in miserable conditions. According to statistics from
the National Indigenist Institute 83%of Indian-majority municipalities in Mexico are very
poor or extremely poor (Barry 1994: 175). Being Indian in most cases means being
illiterate, malnourished, without health care and facing poor housing conditions. With the
Spanish invasion and imposition of colonial rule, the Indian's identity became that of "the
Other," left out of a system that was never meant to include it.
It is important to not portray pre-Hispanic nations as "pure" harmonious cultures
corrupted by the forced imposition of Christianity and institutions of the Spanish colonial
empire. Warfare, slavery and human sacrifice were practiced within pre-Hispanic societies.
Thus, what is today considered brutality was practiced perhaps as much in pre-Hispanic
cultures as in the Iberian Peninsula under the Inquisition. The purpose then is not to make
moral comparisons but rather to argue that indigenous identity was profoundly transformed
by its confrontation with Western culture.
Pre-Hispanic religion and belief systems placed adherents at the centre of existence,
providing a past, present and future for them. Under their own belief system, the original
inhabitants of the Americas knew where they came from and to what gods they were going.
The imposition of Christianity would displace this belief system and replace it with one that
de-centred Indian identity, creating "the Other." At the time of the arrival of the first
--
Spaniards, Chiapas was a land inhabited by distinct nations of people who enjoyed
autonomy from the Aztec empire. The Spanish invasion largely erased this tradition. The
original inhabitants of the "New World" went from being diverse nations of peoples to
being "Indians" because of a geographical error. Along with the label "Indian" came a
whole other set of ideological baggage. They were considered heathens, less than human,
destined for slavery. When it was decided that they were worthy of the Christian religion
(unlike the African slaves who were not considered human), they were still made to be
servants of the "master" European race.
Indians continue to be "the Other," best romanticized as exotic folklore or "noble
savages" who are "at one with nature." At worst they are seen as vestiges of "backward"
and "inferior" cultures. These images are so imbedded in Western popular culture that it is
almost impossible to look freshly at the diversity of ways of being that contemporary
Indian cultures represent. Part of the struggle of the EZLN and indigenous movements is to
break out of these narrow perceptions. The EZLN speaks of becoming subjects instead of
objects, and seeks dignity. The following history will help us understand why this is
important.
Colonization and Resistance in Chiapas
"Whenwe go into the big cities to sell our goods, the ladino women see us as animals.
I am fighting for a dignified life, to be proud of being an indigenous woman."
Tzeltal woman from CuxuljB, Ocosingo - Municipality in Rebellion "Che Guevara"
During the pre-Hispanic period, most of the region known today as Chiapas was
populated by descendants of the Mayan civilization. Anthropologists divide the Maya of
this region into five main linguistic groups that continue to inhabit the region today, despite
a tumultuous history that has regionally displaced some of these communities. At the time
of first contact, however, the Choles inhabited the eastern jungle lowlands; the Mames the
coastal and western mountains; the Tzotziles, Tzeltales and Tojolobales the highlands and
plains; a sixth non-Mayan group, the Zoques, occupied the northwest region, being related
to the Mixes of Oaxaca. (de Vos 1994).
Another group, now culturally extinct, was the Chiapanecas who dominated the
region. They were linguistically and culturally distinct from the other six and believed to
.
have originally come from Teotihuacin in Mexico's central valley. Linguistic studies place
them as far south as Nicaragua (de Vos 1985). When the Chiapanecas arrived in the region
now known as Chiapas they took over and settled in the fertile Grijalva river basin between
the coastal mountains and the central highlands, where the state capital Tuxtla GutiCrrez lies
today. One of the conquerors, Bernal Diaz, said of them: "They were at that time the
greatest warriors I had seen in all New Spain." Hernin Cortbs considered the Chiapanecas
the most important group in the region and thus called this new colonial province of the
Spanish empire Chiapa, derived from the name of the Chiapaneca's capital city Chiapan.
Bernal Diaz described the settlement as a city with 4,000 families, well-constructed houses
and ordered streets. Spanish Chiapa included most of the region that now makes up the
modem Mexican state of Chiapas, except for the Soconusco coast which became its own
colonial province (de Vos 1994).
Looking at this ethnic panorama 450 years later, the situation has greatly changed.
The Chiapaneca people no longer exist as a nation. Through conquest and acculturation
with the Spanish colonizers, the Chiapanecas lost their cultural identity. The language is
known only through some colonial writings composed by Dominican friars who lived with
them during the colonial period. The only visible presence of the language today is seen in
some family names and in the names of geographic sites in the region.
Concerning the other Mayan groups, the Chol people were hunted out of the jungle
and have only recently begun to resettle it, along with thousands of Tzeltales in search of
land and hope. The Tzotzil people remain in the land-squeezed central highlands of
Chiapas, being forced to sell their labour on coastal coffee plantations and to act as the
humble servants of the San Crist6bal mestizo population. The Zoques continue to be settled
in northwest Chiapas but remain isolated and have not made public declarations of support
for the EZLN. Many Zoques were displaced by a volcanic eruption of the Chichonal in the
early 1980s.
C
Besides these disruptions, migrations and major cultural changes, the Spanish
invasion transformed Chiapas in many other ways. Imagine a region with uncontaminated
rivers, pine covered mountains and lush tropical rainforest-filled lowlands. Agricultural
production consisted mainly of corn, beans and squash, while commercial products such as
cacao and cotton were grown where the climate permitted. Much of Chiapas is now
devoted to grasslands and cattle raising. Commercial
crops such as sugarcane have had a
---
devastating effect on the land. Coffee has been introduced as well as sheep herding.
Overpopulation means that lands are being overworked and the surrounding forests are
being cut down to provide firewood for cooking and for heating in the cold highland
mountains as well as to provide pasture land for the expanding cattle industry. The lowland
jungles have given way to cattle grazing and slash and bum farming, and vast quantities of
the precious mahogany that once dominated the jungles have been removed over the last
100 years (de Vos 1994).
The Spanish invasion thus affected the existing native populations in their
relationship with nature, their relationship with the divine and their relationship with those
living around them (de Vos 1994). The social structure would greatly change with the
imposition of the first Spanish institutions on the region. The lasting presence from the first
Spanish invasion was the encomienda (a land and labour endowment to Spanish colonizers
called encomenderos). In theory this was supposed to be an appropriation of the surplus
produced by the local native population. The Spanish colonizers did not settle in the region
immediately after first contact, preferring to control the land from the distant port of
Espiritu Santo. In practice, the people who were obliged to them through the encomienda
system became victims of raids and armed assaults. The initial phases of the encomienda
system would primarily serve the slave trade. Historian Gudrun Lenkersdorf writes (1995):
They locked them in iron chains and took them to the port where they were
traded on the market for horses, weapons and provisions. We do not know
how many hundreds of inhabitants from the highlands of Chiapas were
taken in this manner, destined to slave in the gold mines of Cuba.
The reduccibn was another Spanish institution imposed to pacify and subdue the
native populations for economic purposes. This brought dispersed settlements of
indigenous people into a single village settlement. Not only did it make the population
easier to control, it also vacated vast tracts of lands which could then be claimed by the
Spanish encomenderos. By the end of the 16th century, 120 colonial villages had been
formed in relatively compact areas, each extensions of ejido (communal) lands legally
assigned to each village. Beyond these limits were immense populated zones waiting to be
monopolized by Spanish hacienda (farm estate) owners and mestizo ranchers (Lenkersdorf
1995).
With the disappearance of most of the encomiendas by the end of the 16th century,
a new system of exploitation and a new agrarian structure was established with the
emergence of the hacienda on one side and the indigenous community on the other. Both
were part of the same colonial economy and society which brought together the republic of
the Spaniards and the republic of the Indians. The establishment of this system of property
and social relations of production was slow and marked by evictions, exploitation and by
subjugation of Indians and their economy to the interests of the new landowners (Wolf
1958).
The removal from their ancestral lands drastically affected the Indian customs,
modes of production, and conditions of work. Their products and services were
monopolized by the colonial administrative centre Ciudad Real, later named San Cristdbal
de las Casas. The original settlers of the highland city lived in isolation, surrounded by a
sea of indigenous villages. The ladino residents held a profound disdain for the native
population that continued through the colonial period and even into the late 20th century.
Historian Jan de Vos calls this, "one of the shameful burdens of Chiapan society" (Vos
1994: 66-67).
In the initial stages of the local conflict, the local Indians refused to obey and
rebelled against the Spanish settlement. These rebellions were defensive. Indians refused to
respect the encomienda arrangements. Such rebellions became a constant throughout
colonial and post-colonial history. An analysis of indigenous resistance to the Spanish
attempts to subordinate the Indians gives an illustrative glimpse of the process of change
throughout the colonial era and also gives a sense of historical continuity to the current
Zapatista rebellion. It is against similar conditions that the local Indians have always
rebelled. In this context it is easier to understand how mestizo intellectuals from urban
Mexico were able to unite the many indigenous groups across ethnic lines to fight not only
for local reforms but also for a new vision of the nation which would entail revolutionary
changes.
According to historian Jan de Vos (1994: 68) three types of resistance have been
practiced against Spanish domination: hidden resistance, negotiated resistance and open
resistance. Hidden resistance took the form of practicing banned forms of religious
worship outside the view of political and religious authorities. Such practices enabled the
indigenous groups to blend their religion with the imposed Catholic practices in order to
achieve a mix of the two which was tolerated by ecclesiastical authorities and allowed the
diverse Mayan communities to continue their traditions in rituals that remained meaningful
to them. Such syncretic practices continue to exist among the different Mayan peoples in
the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala.
Negotiated resistance allowed the native populations at least some say in the way
they would be integrated into the system and how the vast cultural changes would be
developed. While under the colonial order traditions would never evolve in a free and
natural way, indigenous groups took advantage of opportunities to negotiate how these
changes would be implemented.
Open resistance against the Spanish invasion has been part of Chiapas's regional
history since the arrival of the first Spanish expeditionary forces. The Chiapanecas put up
fierce resistance: according to the legend during one intense battle many Chiapaneca
combatants chose to throw themselves from the canyon walls rather than be captured and
enslaved by the Spaniards. The jungle region east of Ocosingo, now known as the conflict
zone, put up a great resistance to Spanish invaders who captured and enslaved many
prisoners. After 200 years of battles with the original Lacandon nation, the Spaniards
forced them to abandon an island fortress. The last members of this group were found in a
Guatemalan coastal community. Their disappearance erased a cultural line that traced back
to builders of the temples of Palenque.
The Spaniards were unable to achieve total control over this region and it remained
a natural refuge for all those Indians who refused to be subjugated by the colonial regime
(Lenkersdorf 1995: 83). Maya-Yucatec speakers replaced the original Lacandones and
continued to exist as one of the groups least influenced by European culture into the 20th
century. Other than these isolated clans, the jungle remained more or less uninhabited until
a massive migration in the 1950s. The Spanish colonists referred to it as "the desert of
loneliness" (de Vos 1990).
One of the most remembered organized rebellions to take place against the Spanish
colonial regime occurred in 1712. This rebellion, and the phenomena that were responsible
for bringing it about, give some insight into indigenous identity and the level of cultural
penetration and ideological domination achieved by the Spanish colonizers who at that time
made up about 2% of the population (Viqueira 1996: 106). The rebellion manifested itself
in a radical reversal of the imposed order. It was an attempt by the indigenous population to
re-centre itself and once again become the masters of their destiny. They attempted to create
an Indian-ruled kingdom where they would become the dominators and the Spanish would
be converted into "Indian" servants and peons. In one of the first offensives the colonial
town of Chilon was attacked. The Spaniards who were not killed were made to work in the
homes of the Indians as peons (Wasserstrom 1983). The rebels attempted to recreate an
"Indian Republic" as an alternative to the exploitive colonial regime.
The rebellion demonstrated that despite the enormous cultural changes lived by the
Indians, the Spanish colonial regime was never able to achieve a complete spiritual
integration of the Indian population into the Catholic colonial order. The 1712 rebellion led
to an easing of the colonial grip over indigenous communities; nevertheless conditions only
became worse. The resistance never ceased. However, it was not until after Independence,
and the power vacuum it left, that a renewed effort to subdue the local indigenous
communities again created the conditionsfor another open rebellion and attempt to re-create
an indigenous order.
Independence, Revolution and Neo-Colonialism in Chiapas
Throughout the colonial period Chiapas remained under the jurisdiction of the Guatemalan
Spanish Audiencia. When the movement for independence began, the colonial province had
to decide whether to join Guatemala or Mexico. Chiapas was caught in the middle of two
distinct histories. In many ways Chiapas belonged more to Central America than to the
Mexican lands to its north. Historically it had looked south to the colonial administrative
centres in Guatemala. It was also separated from Mexico geographically. The straight of
Tehuantepec is the narrowest point in Mexico, and separates it from the rest of Central
America. From the lowlands of Tabasco, and deserts of Oaxaca, rise the highland
mountains that make Chiapas the geographical gateway to Central America. Culturally,
Chiapas's Mayan languages share a common history with Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador. Chiapas's pre-Hispanic kingdoms of Palenque and Bonampak were important
northern centres during the height of the classic period (200AD-900AD) when the Mayan
civilization achieved its artistic and intellectual peak.
The decision to unite Chiapas with Mexico was not made democratically. According
to a report written by General Vicente Filisola to the Mexican government, of the
approximately 130,000inhabitants of Chiapas only 4,000 were Spaniards. It was only this
3% of the population that would have had a say in the region's future. The indigenous
people were "treated with much contempt, and they have been forced always into a very
humiliating submission." Filisola also commented on the contrast between the natural
wealth of the region and the extreme poverty of its inhabitants (Benjamin 1996: 5). The
province of Chiapas was a neglected province in a minor region of Spanish America. It had
largely been ignored by the colonial administration in Guatemala.
The Chiapas elite chose to join Mexico for several reasons. First, it had not
prospered under Guatemalan rule and thought they would do better under Mexico. Second,
it already had established trade ties with Mexico that they wished to expand. Third, the
local political elite expected that it would be able to operate with more autonomy under
Mexico due to the greater distance of its administrative centre. Fourth, conservatives
favoured Mexico's monarchical government over rumours of republicanism in Guatemala.
Fifth, the Chiapan elite believed that Mexico could and would defend the province better in
case of popular insurrection (Benjamin 19%).
Independence from Spain set off a new movement for regional control of Chiapas's
natural wealth. The landowners from the Grijalva river valley (where Tuxtla Gutierrez now
lies) united into a liberal faction while the oligarchy from the highlands became the
conservative forces. These factions fought over the control of land and indigenous labour.
The Agrarian Laws passed from 1826-1832 defined the maximum extension of common
lands based on a village's population. This opened up vast tracts of land (terrenos baldios)
surrounding indigenous communities. The land was purchased by the ladino elite who in
turn used the indigenous people in the surrounding villages to work the land. By the 1850s
virtually all the indigenous communities had their "vacant" communal lands taken away
(Benjamin 1996: 14). The following quote is taken from a contemporary Mayan peasant
describing his perception of this period. It is an example of "history from within" (UpezPortillo: 233) as an indigenous man describes how the lands were taken away:
The plunder of indigenous communities is an old story. . . Between 1824
and 1909 the governments of Mexico and Chiapas made agrarian laws and
the reform laws that permitted anyone to buy tierras baldias ["excess"
lands]. Our grandfathers told us how they would use laws to buy lands that
did not have owners, even though they were the lands of the grandfathers of
our grandfathers who had them in fallow. When the Caxlanes (non-
indigenous people) saw these lands they went to the government to buy
them as tierras baMh. Since these old people did not have title documents it
was easy to grab the land from them. The people simply said, "Let's see
where is it written that this is your land ?"...Since the indigenous people
didn't know how to read or write, the rich people did what they wanted.
(Garcia et a1 1994:35)
The issue of labour resources put the regional elite into two different camps. The
Grijalva valley landowners were in desperate need of labour. In the central lowlands only
7% of the population was indigenous while in the highlands the number was 54% (Rus
1995: 148). A Servitude Law was passed in 1827 making anyone over the age of 18
subject to the municipal authorities decision to be placed in the military or obliged to work
for employers needing labour. The problem faced by the Grijalva valley elite was that the
bulk of indigenous labour was controlled by the highland landowners and parish priests
based in San Cristbbal. The lowland elite thus became naturally inclined to the liberal
current which at that time advocated the separation of Church and state and the privatization
of communal indigenous lands. They also stood against the system of baldiaje (legal
servitude in exchange for rent).
The intra-elite conflicts that were fought out during the first decades of Chiapas's
independence escalated. The competition for land and indigenous labour worsened the
conditions in highland communities. Indigenous communities were slowly stripped of their
lands and forced to become labourers on haciendas and plantations. In 1846 the Larrainzar
family managed to confiscate three-quarters of the lands of Chamula and parts of other
communities. In total, their holdings added up to 47,600 hectares (Rus 1983).
The outcome of this was the so-called Caste War of 1869. Popular history has it
that the highland indigenous people converged on San Crist6bal to take out revenge on their
47
ladino exploiters. This version has been put forth since the 19th century in an attempt to
show the danger of leaving the indigenous people to rule themselves (Rus 1983). The real
war, however, took place between the two ladino factions and the Mayan peasants were
used to fight the battles. While San Cristobalenses would later exalt the bravery of the
ladinos and the barbarity of the Indians, the death statistics told another story with 47
Ladinos dying, some by their own artillery fire, compared to over 1,000 indigenous
people, including women and children (Rus 1983).
At the same time authentic manifestations of cultural resistance were seen during the
war. Indian rebels attempted to invert the dominant order and recreate an autochthonous
history. The increasing impoverishment of the indigenous economy led to a search for
alternatives. Indigenous communities began to look for new, less exploitive, ways of
relating to the ladinos. They created new forms of religiosity and alternative economic
centres. They sacrificed a child prophesying he would return as an "Indian Christ." Their
leader Pedro Cuscat became the highest authority over the ruling post-colonial order. The
uprising attempted to re-centre the Indian identity that was being more and more relegated
to the margins in the context of intra-elite battles over land and labour. There was an
attempt to re-assert a self-directed way of being Indian. The response was massacre as
hundreds of Indian peasants would die.
Liberal reforms were implemented across Mexico in the 1860s with the intent of
deepening capitalist relations of production. Nonetheless, by the second half of the 19th
century the practice of debt servitude had become institutionalized in Chiapas (Benjamin
19%: 22). It served the interests of both factions of the Chiapan elite. Near the end of the
century there were attempts to end this practice, but it was not until the Revolution that it
would be formally abolished. By the late 19th century capitalist landowners began to
modernize Chiapan agriculture and integrate it with the national and international economy.
Communal lands that had been used by indigenous communities for generations were
privatized. The bQldiaje system persisted, requiring peasants to exchange their labour for a
parcel of land.
You work one week for nothing and then you rest for two weeks. When the
two weeks are finished then you give another week of labour, but for
nothing, you are not paid for it. (G6mez Hernandez and Humberto Ruz
1988: 63)
Peasants carried out work as porters, personal servants and farm hands in the boss's fields
and stables. As "vacant" lands were privatized, backward labour relations would persist.
The Mexican revolution interrupted this process in certain parts of the nation but it
by no means fundamentally altered it. Within Chiapas the revolution did not take hold--it
was "a revolution from without". Instead of representing a break from the modernizing
reforms initiated under the Porfiriato (1876-1910), the revolution momentarily interrupted
the process before it could be continued in the 1920s. The economic elite retained control of
the state government, using it to direct a program of modernization. The minor rebellions
which took place during the revolution were elite-led, seeking to advance local objectives.
One rebellion took place amongst highland landowners in San Crist6bal who resented the
shift of state power to Tuxtla GutiCrrez. Later, the Mapache rebellion resisted tke occupying
Carrancista army and the abolition of indebted servitude. The Mapaches sought to ensure
that peasants would not consider the example of land reform undertaken by the original
Zapatistas in Morelos (Nigh 1994:9). Essentially, the Mapache counter-rebellion was
successful; the revolution did little to touch existing power relations in Chiapas. It would
not be until under the CBrdenas administration (193440) that agrarian reform would take
place, though landowners would still be protected by unaffectability status that protected
their large landholdings.
By the 1940s tensions were mounting in the highlands of Chiapas due to population
growth and the increasing scarcity of land. From 1920-1950 landless campesinos and
agricultural workers began to organize. The land reform spelled out in the 1917
Constitution was implemented under Cgrdenas in the 1930s so that by the 1950s the
Chiapan ruling class was challenged by popular mobilization. In order to address the
explosive situation,the uninhabited eastern lowlands became a social safety valve for land
hungry indigenous peasants. This policy defused widespread discontent for two more
decades. By the 1970s, the eastern lowlands began to reach their demographic limits and
agrarian rebellion broke out again. An agrarian movement seeking independence from PRI
structures surged, and peasants began invading lands and carrying out demonstrations
throughout Chiapas.
Exodus to the Promised Land
Beginning in the 1940s agrarian policy focused on opening up new national lands
for colonization. Instead of redistributing lands and affecting the political and economic
power of the landholding class, the eastern lowlands of Chiapas were opened to farmers
who wanted to create new communities (Reyes Ramos 1992:32). These new communities
would later become the heart of the EZLN rebel territory known as the "conflict zone."
Migrant farmers came to these lands with a deep desire to improve their lives. As Ross
(1994)points out, the names given to many of the communities reflected this hope: Nueva
Estrella, Nueva Esperanza, Nuevo Jerusalem, Tierra y Libertad, El Eden, El Paraiso, etc.
The settlement of the eastern lowlands was an opportunity to become self-sufficient and
creators of their own existence. A new generation of farmers who had faced serious
problems of land scarcity in the highlands and feudal-like labour conditions on the large
plantations fought the hardships of the hostile jungles to begin new communities.
The following interview takes place in Roberto Barrios, municipality of Palenque.
This community declared itself in rebellion in May 19%with the inauguration of an EZLN
"Aguascalientes" centre of resistance. The community is situated on a river where the
Mexican armed forces have constructed a large base on the opposite shore. This interview
takes place with some of the community's original founders, who arrived in the early
1960s to create a new community for their families from Petalcingo.
We left Petalcingo because we did not have land and we suffered from
poverty and need. We decided to look for a new place to live where there
was still enough land. So a group of us came and saw this land [...] and
returned to Petalcingo. We held a meeting and discussed what to do. We
decided to move here and make a life where there is land. So that's how we
amved [...I
(Son of one of the elders): When our parents arrived here the biggest
problem they faced was that in their birth lands they had no work, nothing
to eat and no way to earn money. The problem they faced upon arriving to
these lands was that they came without money I...] and had no place to
work. This land was mountains and covered in jungle [...I so they had to
leave to find work. All they had was a bit of pozol [a drink made of corn
meal and water] that they took to the places where they worked because the
patr6n [boss] would not give them anything to eat. Often they weren't even
given a roof to sleep under and they were forced to sleep in the rain if the
patr6n was a mean bastard. They had to put up with this because they
couldn't return to their families without money. They weren't even assured
they would be paid because sometimes they would work and not be paid.
They'd return with nothing. And in this time they still didn't have a large
corn crop or more lands to cultivate. They would have to walk all the way to
Palenque to find work. They would walk for 12 hours to arrive.
Other elder: We arrived by foot walking all day. Sometimes 4 or 5 days
walking for the pufro'n because there were no cars or roads. That's how we
suffered and we still continue to suffer today.
[...I
We spent thirty years struggling and petitioning the municipal
government and the state governor but they never paid any attention to us.
They only built us a dirt road after the 1994 uprising occurred. [...I But for
thirty years we had no road. When someone was sick we had to carry them
on our backs to Palenque and at times they didn't make it and they would
die on the trail to the hospital. Those were the problems we faced in our
community.[ ...I
The customs that we practiced have been lost but we now have it in our
heads to renew them and bring them back. The customs that we now
practice do not come from our traditions. We used to wear another type of
clothing and we practiced different types of fiestas. What you saw here was
what we used to do during the carnival[ ...I The older men would like to
teach the youth who no longer remember. So that is why we think we
should return to our traditions.
[.. I
They are important because we have lost them and had other ideas put
into our heads that do not come from us.
[...I
When we have time to go and visit our families [in Petalcingo] we have
aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, even
some people have their parents there still. Some people go and visit their
families and they exchange things, for example things that we grow here
that they can't grow there.
[...I One of the other problems we had upon arriving was that many people
died from the bite of the Nayuac snake. Many people died because we
didn't have medicine and they didn't know the traditional herbal
medicines[ ...I Now we know how to cure the snakebites with plants.
Before we didn't and at times men would have to go into the mountains and
have bad luck and be bit and die. They would leave their families behind
with nothing.
Son: I was born in Petalcingo. I left when I was two years old. They have
told me all the stories about coming here. The elders are the original
witnesses to the founding of this community.
(interview with author, July 1996)
In Chiapas, the Lacandon jungle is popularly thought of as the region of tropical
rainforest inhabited by the Lacandon Indians filled with exotic wild animals such as
jaguars, monkeys, parrots and the feared nayuac snake. However, a more general
definition based on the pattern of cultural and commercial ties that create a distinct dynamic
in the region of the eastern lowlands of Chiapas is that by Xochitl Leyva and Gabriel
Eusencio (19%).It defines a common pattern of social, cultural and economic relations in
the region in the municipalities of Palenque, Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas.
This geographically diverse region contains mountains as high as 2,450 metres and vast
lowland jungle regions at 50 metres. It is criss-crossed with rivers and canyons, part of the
basin and tributary system of the Usumacinta river. The area under study does not
encompass all of these municipalities. The northern lowlands of Palenque are more tied to
the gulf plains of Tabasco. Ocosingo, the largest municipality in Mexico, encompasses
several distinctly different geographic regions. The communities that lie near the PanAmerican Highway are not connected to the jungle region, while the canyons and jungle
east of the municipal capital do. Altamirano is divided between the highlands and the
lowlands. The western part of Las Margaritas is connected to ComitAn, while the eastern
canyons are included in the region of study.
Leyva and Ascencio (19%) identify the patterns of communication and interrelation on three levels: macro-regional, sub-regional and micro-regional. The Lacandon
canyons have a macro-regional tie to the cities of Tuxtla GutiCrrez, San Crist6bal de las
Casas and Villahermosa. In these cities the state powers and religious, financial and federal
agencies can be found. It is in these arenas where the interests of campesinos, private
industry and the federal government meet. Subregional centres are the towns and municipal
capitals such as Ocosingo, Palenque, Altamirano, Comith and Las Margaritas. Here one
finds the local carnpesino and rancher associations, cattle and coffee intermediaries and the
local parish centres. These centres also provide the main source of markets and goods for
the outlying communities. Finally, on the micro-regional level there are communities and
neighbourhoods within the jungle that serve as local centres providing basic services such
as primary education, small stores with limited inventories, perhaps a basic health clinic, an
airstrip and access to the main road. This is where local face-to-face interaction takes place
and individuals and families know each other and local historiesjoin communities together
through fiestas and inter-community marriages.
The base of the Zapatista army inhabits the canyons and tropical rain forests of the
1
region of the Lacandon jungle. When the Spaniards arrived in Chiapas this region was
inhabited by Mayans, part of the Chol-speaking family. In 1714 the last descendants of this
group were pacified and deported from the region to Guatemala. A new group of MayaYucatec speakers would shortly take their place and later adopt their name: the Lacandones.
But the original inhabitants of the Lacandon jungle, descendants of the same culture that
developed a high civilization during the Maya classic period, would disappear just as in the
case of the Chiapanecas. The last remnants of their language would be recorded in
Guatemala in the 18th century.
'
The region remained largely uninhabited until the 19th century, with the exception
of the subsistence farmer-hunter Maya-Yucatecs, the new Lacandones. The second
conquest of the Lacandon jungle began with the arrival of loggers after Mexico's
independence in the 1820s. The main activities to dominate the region until well into the
20th century were extractive industries. The region was inhabited by a mobile labour force,
consisting mostly of highland Indians who had been contracted or swindled into labour
camps. The jungle novels of Bruno Traven, written during the 1930s, explain the process
in painstaking detail.
The first agricultural communities would not be founded until the 1930s when
colonizing indigenous groups from the highlands began to arrive to carve new communities
out of the rough wilderness. Ironically, some of the Chol people-descendants of those who
were hunted out of the jungle in the 16th century and forced to live in the reducciones and
provide labour and tribute to the Spaniards-would be some of the same groups returning to
the jungle to their ancestral homelands. The majority of the new colonists, however, would
be Tzeltal Indians moving into the canyons of Ocosingo to escape the lack of land in the
highlands and miserable labour conditions as peons on haciendas.
The first groups that arrived in the jungle were involved in extractive activities and
came in search of employment. They left the haciendas in the highlands where they had
worked as peons under a system of debt servitude. They went in search of the possibility
of obtaining work cutting mahogany or in the rubber-tapping industry. In the 1930s a new
type of migrant came to the Lacandon canyons. Cattle ranching colonists began to arrive
and establish permanent communities. They colonized national lands and the lands of large
jhcas (plantations) where they could prove the finca had tracts of land in excess of the
agrarian reform laws. The first communities to be colonized were in the canyon of
Patihuitz, municipality of Ocosingo, and in Las Margaritas.
Many of these first colonies, such as Guadalupe Tepeyac and Patihuitz, would later
become the heartland of the Zapatista movement. It is therefore necessary to understand the
organizing that took place in these communitiesfrom their founding to the eventual uprising
on January lst, 1994. The role of the church and independent campesino organizations
were both important. Consciousness raising was essential as campesinos began to identify
with the nation over the community. They found new ways of interpreting their reality.
The Ethnic Panorama
It is inaccurate to speak of the Indians of Chiapas as if they were one homogeneous group.
While Mayan peasants increasingly identify across broader organizational networks (Mayan
writers, weaving cooperatives, autonomy movements, the EZLN), most indigenous people
in Chiapas identify with language and community. Divisions already existed in the PreHispanic period but they were sharpened and intensified under the colonial regime. This
lack of unity was used to create strategic alliances strengthening Spanish rule. Divisions
were also reinforced by the reduccibn (reduction), which were new townships created by
colonial authorities. Costumes that identified each person with his or her village made
political control easier.
The highlands of Chiapas provide an illustrative example of the diversity of cultural
identity. Tzotzil is the common language, yet there is as much difference among the
municipalities as similarities, and they maintain limited contact with each other. The
indigenous inhabitants can identify the community origins of others by their particular dress
and form of speaking, as accents and vocabularies vary within Tzotzil across a relatively
small geographical space. Within the communities there are also divisions along religious
lines. The Protestanth-aditional split is now prevalent throughout Chiapas.
These examples show the difficulty of speaking of the indigenous people of
Chiapas as representative of a single set of interests, given the diversity of ethnic identities.
It also demonstrates how remarkable it is that EZLN organizers were able to unite
representatives from diverse communities across previously impregnable barriers. We
cannot say it is simply an uprising of the indigenous people of Chiapas. Even though
representatives of the EZLN speak in the first-person plural as "we, the indigenous people
of Chiapas," it is still most accurately described as an uprising by a section of indigenous
people in Chiapas that cross ethnic lines and share a common history.
In addition, the uprising divided indigenous communities both within and across
ethnic lines, according to political affiliation. The PRDPFU split and the growth of other
political options such as the EZLN, FZLN, autonomy movements and many official and
independent campesino organizations have created a wide diversity throughout rural
Chiapas. As yet these new options have not been accompanied by a generalized tolerance.
In several regions including the northern Chol-speaking zone, the municipality of Chilon
and the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, paramilitary groups composed of Indian
peasants have been formed with the complicity of PRI politicians and state security forces
to use violence against the new independent organizations (see Chiapas: donde la justicia no
tiene lugar).
The uprising did unite some highland communities with others in the Lacandon
canyons, raising awareness of the similarity of conditions across indigenous communities
in Chiapas. This point was made clear to me when I talked with a woman who operated a
popular culture centre in San Cristdbal that lent Zapatista videos to representatives from
E,
celebrations that took place in different communities throughout the highlands and
lowlands. The reaction to the videos was revealing as many people laughed and joked at the
different ways of being indigenous, from traditional dances to forms of dress. Clearly,
many of the people in more remote villages were not aware of the extent of the diversity
among them, yet they are committed to struggling for a common agenda. This willingness
to recognize differences has become a central feature of Zapatismo and when reflected on
the world it might explain the emphasis within the movement's discourse on tolerance,
diversity and the creation of un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos (one world where
many worlds fit).
Another interesting point about the unity across ethnic Iines among members of the
EZLN is that they are willing to forgo the chance of receiving immediate improvements in
their local living conditions in order to struggle for broader national changes. They have
united without self-interest in mind: para t o h s para todo para nosotros nada (everything
for everyone, nothing for us). While many communities support the Mexican armed forces
and government for the immediate benefits they brings, the EZLN has created an
ideologically disciplined movement that is willing to forgo short-term gains for long-term
national change. Comandante David told me candidly that this is a movement that may have
to continue for generations and when he dies his children will continue on.
The history recounted in this chapter helps us understand why members of the
EZLN would be willing to make such a sacrifice. The arrival of European explorers,
fortune hunters, missionaries and settlers on the shores of the lands now known as the
Americas set in motion a violent process that subjugated entire nations of people to outside
powers. The colonization was carried out through force of arms and the imposition of a
I
,
new world view which placed Europeans on a higher scale than the native peoples.
Indigenous customs were seen as inventions of the devil and entire cultures were negated
under the new order. In addition, foreign diseases decimated the population, serving to
speed up the process of pacification.
The conditions of marginalization and exploitation that gave rise to the Zapatista
rebellion are a product of this history. The original inhabitants were enslaved through the
imposition of colonial institutions and their lands were taken away. Two forms of living
would co-exist: the hacienda and indigenous community. The unfolding of events that
began in 1492 set the stage for colonialism and the development of capitalism. To this day
we are all still directly impacted by these events. In Chiapas, debt servitude and peonage
continued into the 20th century, so that by the 1950s land-squeezed highland Indians,
former peons from feudal-like plantations and peasants from other states began to move
into Chiapas's previously uninhabited tropical eastern lowlands-the Lacandon canyons.
The new colonizers sought freedom from exploitation on the plantations and the conditions
of scarcity in the highlands by constructing new frontier communities. Once in the tropical
lowlands and abandoned by the state, they began to organize against centuries of
oppression by making demands not just for their local communities but with global
implications.
The irony is that for many indigenous people their world lies in their communities. \ !
They struggle for national changes in a nation that they do not even fully understand. When
shown a globe of the world some young Zapatista militia members asked where is
Patihuitz, where is San Miguel, where is Ocosingo. How with such a limited knowledge of
the broader world can these support bases develop a national plan for struggle? The answer
lies in the consciousness raising that resulted from migration to the eastern lowlands, and
the work of the church and political organizers which permitted a broader identity to
develop.
Activist Subcultures and Regional
Organizing: Dialogical Influences
"Beforethe EZLN, there already existed organizations [...Iw
Comandante David
The last chapter focused on the history of Indian resistance to conquest, colonialism and
republican governments. In conferences organized around the "500 years of resistance"
campaign many leaders have asserted that the Indians were never conquered. Resistance
continues to flow through the historical imagination, allowing Indian communities to resist
and adapt despite the levels of control achieved by colonial and republican regimes.
The EZLN uprising built on earlier organizational efforts that left behind a
subculture of activism. Resistance has always been present on varying levels but in the
1970s a wave of non-affiliated movements emerged in Chiapas outside official corporatist
channels. These organizations acted as intermediary bodies, creating the cultural conditions
for a new struggle. The continuity of this activism served as a seed for the Zapatista
movement. In this chapter, I examine the pre-movements that provided the context for the
7
conversion of thousands of Indian peasants into new political subjects, and the eventual
emergence of the EZLN.
The EZLN has existed since at least 1983 and, as the interview material presented in
-
this chapter confirms, its recruitment was done through community-level organizations and
existing political groups. Beginning in the 1970s, there was a flourishing of new
~r~anizational'networks
in Chiapas, focusing on agrarian issues, religion and ethnicity.
The EZLN not only capitalized on these existing forms of organization to gain new recruits
but also negotiated and competed with them for popular support. George Collier wrote:
The Zapatistas [...I are placing themselves in opposition to the tactics used
by other peasant groups and are fighting to be the voice of the oppressed.
The Zapatista consciousness was formed not just by the backbreaking toil of
colonizing the Lacandon jungle, but also by dialogue and dissension within
and between other peasant organizations. (199455)
In this context the Zapatista's armed option was a rejection of the peaceful tactics
used by other organizations. At the same time it carried on the momentum generated by the
activist subcultures of earlier movements. In this way, the original EZLN organizers would
not have to start from the beginning by creating "new movement frames from whole cloth"
(McAdam 199443). The work done by these pre-existing organizational efforts, including
the church, peasant groups, the 1974 Indigenous Congress, Maoist organizers and earlier
guerrilla movements created important preconditions that, following McAdam, "function as
repositories of cultural materials into which succeeding generations of activists can dip to
fashion ideologically similar, but chronologically separate, movements" (199443).
In particular this chapter deals with four lines of movement. First, new political
identities were generated by migration to the eastern lowlands of Chiapas. Indian peasants
I
began to see themselves for the first time as members of the nation and developed an
awareness of shared problems across regional and ethnic lines. Second, the state had
abandoned the migrant farmers once in their new communities and the church then became
the dominant organization in the region. Its work with the new communities is essential to
understanding the formation of new identities. Third, the creation of independent agrarian
organizati0n's"-providedan alternative channel for Indian peasants to present their demands
before the state. These new organizations provided "schools for political education [...I that
developed at the margins of the political system" (Harvey 1990: 1%). Finally, when this
path of struggle was met with repression a sector became radicalized, and chose to
counteract state violence by joining the EZLN.
These four lines can be considered pre-movements to the 1994uprising. The earlier
-. -
organizational efforts generated an activist subculture and established networks the EZLN
could build on for recruitment. Most importantly, the relationship between these external
influences and the organized Indian campesinos was dialogical. Bishop Ruiz tells how he
came to Chiapas to convert the Indians and instead was himself converted by them. The
same process occurred when the original EZLN organizers entered into contact with Indian
communities for the first time. In addition to the literature on peasant rebellions which often
sees the influence of urban university-educated organizers as decisive (see Skocpol 1982:
361-367, Wickham-Crowley 1992: 23-25), the case of Chiapas demonstrates that the
relationship was not unilateral. Both sides were mutually influenced by the encounter in a
dialogical relationship.
The final section on the formation of the EZLN discusses how the movement
emerged in the highlands and the northern zone. The first interpretations of the uprising
referred exclusively to the eastern lowlands of Chiapas as rebel territory. It soon became
evident, however, that the EZLN existed in other regions and was a growing force. The
final section thus documents the expansion of the movement into these regions.
Shifting Identities
The Indian peasants who created new agricultural colonies in the eastern Lacandon
lowlands of Chiapas viewed the migration as an "exodus." The colonists sought not only
land but also a new life. The Catholic Church played an important role in this area. The
following message by Father Iribarren, a Dominican priest, is an example of the
interpretation that the church presented to the new communities:
We are part of a People that walks toward liberation, ever since the day this
path began when you left the finca and began the struggle for land. We are a
people chosen by God, just like the Israelites who put their hope in God to
prepare them for the dangers of the unknown and the desert. (Iribarren
1992: 42)
The new colonists came to the east from all over Chiapas; most were displaced
families and ex-peons from the highlands. In Ocosingo approximately 7% of the colonists
were from outside Chiapas (Leyva and Ascencio 1996). The dominant language was
Tzeltal but over decades of settlement a new "cultural mosaic" was created. Intermarriage
and the constant presence of caxlanes (non-Indian people) combined to make identity a
particularly prominent subject. In comparison to the more tightly bound Indian
municipalitiesof the highlands, identity in the "Lacandonia Babilonia" became a matter of
contention and constant renegotiation. Leyva and Ascencio write:
Social reality [...I shows the phenomenon of identity as a permanent
unfinished process in constant search for definition. Seen like this, the
identity of the jungle colonist is neither univocal nor stable; it is not
something given or acquired all at once and forever; instead it is something
relative that manifests itself according to its means; it is in constant
reformulation. The indigenous cultures that co-exist in the Lacandon jungle
have shown dynamism and a capacity to respond to unprecedented
situations. ( 19%: 103)
Collier writes that the colonists "shucked ethnic origin for more generic peasant
identities" (1994b: 15). This position was echoed in one of the initial interviews I had with
a colonist from the Lacandon canyons. "Lorenzo," an EZLN responsable from El Prado
Pacayal in the Patihuitz canyon framed his grievances in a class-based analysis, in terms of
rich versus poor and peasant struggle:
I understand that we are exploited. We live in the most simple way often
without the most basic luxuries such as sugar. We are poor and
marginalized, living in slave-like conditions in order just to survive. From
my point of view I believe that as long as one rich man exists with a huge
amount of land and animals it is necessary to continue the struggle [...I The
government does not listen to our words. It has its own army and when we
challenge the government with a protest for just demands it chases us down
with its army. The government has its own army who is our enemy and
now the campesinos have their own army as well. We are conscious that it
is necessary to become better prepared so that in any moment we will have a
stronger army as well. The Zapatista support bases at this point are willing
to convert themselves into an army, if it is necessary, because we are not
going to give up what has been started, we will struggle as it should be. We
have now analyzed clearly who is the enemy and the enemy is supported by
its army. There is nothing left for campesinos to do except create their own
power by taking up arms and forming their own army. (interview with
author July 1995)
This interview took place in July 19%just four months after soldiers of the Mexican armed
forces had camed out an offensive in eastern Chiapas in search of the EZLN leadership.
The soldiers had destroyed homes and stolen food and livestock and El Prado Pacayal was
one of the communities most damaged. While in refuge many community members became
sick and several deaths resulted. This explains the particularly angry tone of the interview.
While this man did not see the uprising in terms of ethnicity there was at the same
time a clear indigenous people's discourse being constructed throughout Chiapas. In 1992
thousands of Indians marched on San Cristdbal and tore down the statue of the
conquistador Diego Mazariegos. Since the 1974 Indigenous Congress, ethnic identity had
become an important issue in Chiapas. The 1991192 Catechist training manual for the
Tzeltal team included reference to "500 years: What does it mean to you?" It goes on
saying:
We will protest the humiliation suffered by the indigenous peoples,
denounce the past abuses, the theft of lands, the destruction of culture, the
genocide of so many people [...I Furthermore the communities will
announce an alternative project, a project of the poor. (see Curso de
Catequistas)
In the notes taken by Father Pablo Iribarren during a pastoral visit to La Soledad in
1992 he explained the meaning of 500 years. The colonists in this meeting had come to the
canyons during the 1950s, having been indentured workers on a finca that they left to
escape the "suffering and caprices of the patron," said one woman (Iribarren 1992: 40).
The following was Father Iribarren's speech:
The world that surrounds and envelopes us has tried to destroy and
humiliate the People, but here it is stronger than ever, resisting victoriously
for more than 500 years. What has happened is that we are destroying
ourselves with drink, division, individualism, forgetting our customs and
traditions, forgetting who we are and assimilating ways and forms of the
Western world that do not help us; sometimes we have confrontations
among us that weaken us, we leave behind our religious practices, Sunday
celebrations and festivals. (Iribarren 1992: 41)
This concern for cultural traditions was repeated to me by Tzeltal and Chol EZLN
comandantes in Roberto Barrios, Palenque:
Comandante Salvador: Yes, it is important to recover our traditions, because
they are what identify us as Tzeltales and Choles. We identify ourselves
through our dress and our culture and these are being lost [...I especially the
language. It is very important to rescue the indigenous culture because if we
don't we will no longer be able to differentiate between who is Chol or who
is Tzeltal.
Comandante Pedro: Also, I believe the best way to go about recovering our
traditions is through becoming autonomous. For-this reason the Zapatista
struggle~~clude~_~edemand
for autonomy. Only in this way can we rescue
what has been lost and promote the culture that we have.
--
Comandante Maria: [answersin Tzeltal--translated by Comandante Pedro] I
have been working to rescue our culture as indigenous people [...I to try to
understand the situation we live in and organize as women. We can no
longer remain quiet so we have to organize ourselves as indigenous women.
(interview with author May 1996)
The identity shift that resulted from migration was thus multifaceted. It involved an
*
expanding awareness of the self in a diverse world and the creation of a political identity
centred around both questions of class and ethnicity. This process was affected by diverse
influences, the most important being the church, peasant organizing and the EZLN.
The Church and Consciousness Raising
Immediately after the 1994 rebellion, the church in Chiapas faced a barrage of criticisms
accusing it of instigating the uprising. The government put the blame on Bishop Samuel
Ruiz and the diocese's "option for the poor," claiming that it had preached "Marxism and
armed rebellion" to the Indians of Chiapas. Many of the accusations that appeared in the
media in the first month after the uprising were simply untrue and part of a campaign of
disinformation. There was a misunderstanding about the role of the church and the work
that it had camed out in Chiapas since the early 1960s. With the amval of Bishop Ruiz in
1959a movement began for the construction of an autochthonous Indian Church. Bishop
Ruiz put his effort toward supporting the liberation of the Mayan peasants of Chiapas.
The Catholic Church in Chiapas was one of the first to authentically work on the
side of poor Indian peasants during the colonial period. In 1542 Bartolomi de las Casas
was named Bishop of Chiapas and amved in Ciudad Real to implement the New Laws of
Barcelona which restricted the use of Indian labour on the encorniendas and prohibited
slavery. The encomenderos threatened by Bishop de las Casas greeted his arrival with
aggression, forcing him to live his first month in Chiapa de 10s Indios. Bishop de las Casas
and his Dominican brothers managed to reduce the power and control of the encomenderos
and initiated a debate that sought to see the Indians as humans (Rand Parish 1985). A little
more than 400 years later Samuel Ruiz came to Chiapas as the new bishop of the Diocese
of San Cristbbal. He was conservative, having studied in the Vatican, nevertheless, after
exposure to the conditions experienced by the Indians in Chiapas, he was converted into a
fighter for the rights of the poor and oppressed. He was inspired by Liberation Theology
and was one of the youngest bishops to attend the 1%8 Bishop's conference in Medellin
Colombia, where the Latin American Church declared its option for the poor (Maciel and
Mendivil 1985).
Bishop Ruiz became a hero to the local Indians over the three decades he worked in
Chiapas and earned the name of respect and endearment "Tatic," which means grandfather.
-
He also became the enemy to others. Bishop Ruiz began to recruit progressive priests to
operate in the local parishes and workers within the Jesuit order also became active in
indigenous communities (Fazio 1994).Father Carlos from the Jesuit Mission of Bachaj6n
told me how he arrived in the 1960s and worked with anthropologists and linguists,
learning the Tzeltal language and working to understand the local Indians. He said one day
they invited some of the local followers into the church and asked what would happen if the
Bishop sent a plane asking the priests to leave quickly for a meeting in San Cristcibal, and
the plane went down and they all perished? What would happen to the Indian Church? The
Tzeltal peasants answered that it would disappear. This is how the Jesuit Mission
demonstrated the importance of creating a Church made by the Indians, for the Indians.
Over the last 30 years the creation of an autochthonous church has been the central aim of
Bishop Ruiz and the San Cristcibal diocese.
The Diocese of San Cristcibal headed by Bishop Samuel Ruiz was the only
institution working with the new colonists who had little contact with state agencies. The
church devoted its energies to training indigenous catechists and creating a church oriented
towards the needs of the new Indian communities. The evangelization interpreted the Bible
in a way that created awareness and raised consciousness. The Bible was discussed with an
orientation toward liberation, enabling the new colonists to see their reality within a broader
context:
Moses says that we must make a community that will enable us to find the
promised land and our salvation [...I We are searching for this tradition
because the Spaniards took it away from us and imposed their traditions.
[...I God has a New Plan that will forcibly change the law of the exploiters
[...I God tells us to search for a new life in the community (Iribarren 1988:
26).
The Dominican order re-established its presence in Chiapas in 1963 with the
creation of the Ocosingo-Altarnirano mission. There were many communities that only
practiced the Eucharist once every two or three years. Because of the lack of human
resources the Church could not be present throughout the far comers of the jungle region.
At this same time, Bishop Ruiz, inspired by the Vatican 11, the Bishops' conference in
Medellin, and many other experiences of religious reflection in Latin America, decided to
promote the creation of Indian catechists and tuhuneles (pre-deacons). Soon there would be
thousands, working in their own communities. The pre-deacons were permitted to perform
two of the sacraments: baptism and mamage. The Eucharist was also given with tortillas
and pozol (a corn drink), replacing bread and wine. The new pre-deacons and catechists
were able to perform their duties in their native language-in Ocosingo this was Tzeltal. This
ecclesiastical novelty helped to inspire and enrich the communities' culture by respecting
and promoting their traditions and enabled the Indian communities to interpret the Christian
faith in a way that made them subjects of their own history.
The Tzeltal manual for the Ocosingo parish gives a view of the type of evangelizing
that took place as part of the new "Church of the Poor". Indians in their religious reflection
groups analyzed the conditions that they faced such as lack of land, markets, and access to
credit, and would then look at the structural causes of these conditions: skewed land
distribution, continuance of colonial attitudes, etc. (Curso de Catequistas 199112).These
reflections were often put within a reading of religious scriptures. Experiences from the
Bible were used to illustrate these positions. Through these reflections a process of
consciousness raising took place. One sister from the Palenque Parish explained to me how
she taught that the Zapatista uprising was like "a liberation, a messianic coming of
freedom" (interview with author March 19%).
In this way new political subjects were created. Indians could look beyond their
(/
local contexts to the broader socio-economic structures that blocked them from attaining
justice. They were taught that everybody was equal under God whether landowners or
txb% %-.
Indians-something that in the context of Indianlladino relations in Chiapas w
revolutionary. Through the evangelical work of the church, Indians came to realize that it
was not natural to suffer and be exploited and that they could change this by taking history
into their own hands.
The church was instrumental in organizing the first indigenous conference in San
Crist6bal in 1974, which became an important watershed for bringing together Mayan
peasants across community lines. Out of the contacts made in this conference new alliances
were created and a strong independent Indian peasant movement arose to take on the
demands of the newly awakened "subjects." The church clearly played a role in creating a
new political consciousness in Indian communities in Chiapas. The later decision to take up
arms, however, came from a different source unrelated to the church.
-
.-
T o those working in eastern Chiapas before 1994 the existence of an armed
movement was something well known by all. Subcomandante Marcos argues that this
information was suppressed while Mexico negotiated the NAFTA agreement with Canada
and the United States. One source who worked in Las Margaritas with the diocese said that
everybody talked of the "M.A." (movimientoarmado or armed movement). Nevertheless
4+@@=
he confirmed that Bishop Ruiz was not in agreement with the decision to take up arms. He
recalled a sermon by Bishop Ruiz in a community in Las Margaritas several years before
the uprising when the Bishop told the people "when you choose arms you leave behind the
path to God" (interview with author May 1997).
According to the vicar of the San Crist6bal diocese, Father Gustavo, after the 1994
uprising the church decided not to abandon the rebels even though they had used violence.
Father Gustavo explained the church's position on the uprising:
Our first reaction was fear. We thought it was wrong; that they had made
the wrong choice. It seemed anachronistic in light of the Central American
experience and we thought it would only lead to more violence. The church
has never encouraged armed uprising. Nevertheless, we did not condemn
the uprising because we understand the suffering and repression of the
-.indigenous people who have followed a path of liberation [...I The church's
position has always been to seek dialogue and social transformation. The
Zapatista cause is thus that of the church. This path has cost us dearly, but
the highest cost has been paid by the people. I have seen catechists unjustly
imprisoned. They held peaceful demonstrations for potable water, schools
and roads and the government response was always violent. Sometimes
there were major arrests of up to 300 people. The Catholic Church has thus
been one of the leading promoters of the path of peace and dialogue.
(interview with author March 1997)
Father Raymundo, the parish priest in Ocosingo, explained the repression that was
faced in the wake of the EZLN uprising:
In 1994the church suffered three break-ins. The police accused the priests
and nuns of being arms suppliers to the Zapatista army. They came into the
parish and searched for weapons. The local elite [in Ocosingo] believes that
all of the church is Zapatista. For that reason we have suffered many
aggressions. They have attacked us verbally and in the media and in 1995
there was physical violence committed against some of the sisters. We have
not suffered as much as other sectors of the church but we live in a constant
state of tension. (interview with author March 1997)
Thus, since the 1960s large steps have been made in the creation of an
autochthonous church. The 1974 Indigenous Conference brought together representatives
from across Chiapas to discuss shared problems and joint actions to resolve them.
Hundreds of Indians are now working in the communities, not only in matters of
evangelization but also in health, women's issues and human rights. The Diocese continues
to be a key figure in the defense of human rights in Chiapas, having created the Fray
Bartolomi5 de las Casas Human Rights Centre and several parish-level human rights
organizations. The work of Bishop Samuel Ruiz as the coordinator of the National
\
1
Mediation Commission (CONAI) has been central to the peace process in Chiapas. Bishop
Ruiz has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for several consecutive years.
Indian-Peasant Organizing
Before the decision was made to take up armed struggle we tried other channels. The
indigenous people asked the government to help with machinery and with credit but it never
did [...I instead thev sent police and soldiers and many campesinos were killed.
EZLN community leader (Ocosingo)
There was an explosion of new organizing throughout Chiapas in the 1970s
(Benjamin 1996: 235). This political movement was part of a flourishing of independent
peasant organizing inspired by frustration with the official National Peasant Committee
(CNC). Organizing on the basis of ethnic identity also became important during the 1970s.
Many new organizations emerged in the 1970s and 1980s and as Harvey (1990)
concluded, the result was the "formation of new political subjects and the spread of a new
political culture." The peasant movement was sparked by an agrarian impulse initiated
I
during the Echeverria administration. In the wake of the 1968 student massacre the state
sought to once again bring the dissident left under its folds. Its rural policy thus became
centered on agrarianism and land redistribution as a form of cooptation (Otero 1989). New
local and regional peasant organizations emerged that were not associated with the
government or political parties. The centralization of peasant organizing under the CNC
began to break down.
The 1974 State Indigenous Conference commemorating the 500th anniversary of
the birth of Fray Bartolorn6 de las Casas became a watershed moment for the Indian
peasant struggle in Chiapas. Most of the new organizations that would emerge resulted
from the networks established in this Congress. Araceli Burguete (1989) chronicled the
human rights violations against the new movement from 19'741988. She characterized the
wave of independent organizing as an "ethno-peasant" movement; the majority of its
participants were Indians who had organized around peasantlagrarian demands.
The new independent organizing was prevalent in three regions; first in the eastern
lowlands of Chiapas, particularly in Ocosingo and Las Margaritas, in the region known
today as the conflict zone; second, in the northern central highlands in the municipalities of
Simojovel, Huitiupiin and Sabanilla. Finally, a new wave of organizing began in the central
valley, particularly in Venustiano Carranza.
In the Lacandon canyons in eastern Chiapas, three Ejido Unions joined together to
form the Union de Uniones (UU)in Ocosingo and Las Margaritas. The UU was controlled
by people who had attended the 1974 Indigenous Congress and was influenced by
catechists and intellectuals of northern Mexico from Line~Proletaria(Pro1etarianLine, LP),
a Maoist organization. The need for an organization was born out of the increasing
insecurity of the land. A government decree in 1972 had granted more than 614,321
hectares to 76 Lacandon families, denying the rights of the 4,000 Chol and Tzeltal families
that also occupied the land (Tello Diaz 1995: 59). In addition, many communities were
declared to hold invalid claims to land and were forcibly evicted by the military. Thus the
UU struggled to seek a solution to this problem by negotiating with government agencies
(Benjamin 1996: 236). The UU worked closely with catechists and members of the LP,
sharing ideas about organizational strategy.
Like many other radical independent organizations, the LP was formed in the wake
of the 1968 massacre of students in Mexico City. It was composed of students and
intellectuals from northern Mexico who sought to give ideological leadership to peasant
organizations, rural communities and urban squatter settlements. They came to Chiapas in
the mid-1970s and were closely associated with the diocese of San Cristbbal, having
permission from Bishop Ruiz (Tello Diaz 199574). The orientadores (those who gave
orientation) would live in rural communities and offer technical support as well as teach
bottom-up organizing methods. The LP wanted to initiate a new movement where the
people would make their own decisions. They opposed top-down hierarchical structures as
they outlined in a pamphlet called What is the Proletarian Line? (1977):
Social Democratic orientation consists of giving ideas and opinions from
above; as if the ideas come from someone who knows more than us, who
acts as if he were our father. The ideas they give might be good but they do
not teach us how to anive at them ourselves [...I Social Democratic leaders
want us to always depend on them. (Renard 1997: 99)
This orientation is similar to the decision-making methods within the civilian ranks of the
EZLN. It was this earlier ideological formation that helped shape the context that was in
place when the first EZLN organizers arrived with Leninist concepts that did not work.
Throughout the 1980s the UU focused on credit, increasing production and
markets. A credit union was formed in 1982 in an attempt to achieve independence from the
government. Eventually, divisions forced two of the ejido unions to leave the credit union
because of differences with the LP. These two groups joined the Rural Association of
Collective Interest (ARIC) in 1988 and developed organic coffee farming methods that
sought export markets in Europe (Benjamin 1996:239). Eventually the ARIC would
become the organization most closely affiliated with EZLN base supporters. In fact, until
the late 1980s the ARIC provided a cover for the EZLN (Tello Diaz 1995). It was at this
time that some of the organization's work with the government began to pay off and a split
formed in the ARIC. By 1990 two clear factions had appeared, divided over support for the
EZLN (Tello Diaz 1995: 123). These factions would become known as ARK-ofiial and
ARIC-independiente, and would be the source of sharp divisions throughout the Lacandon
canyons after 1994.
In the northern coffee-growing municipalities of Simojovel, Huitiupiin, Sabanilla,
and El Bosque, youth who took part in an INI-inspired development program were sent to
Mexico City to attend a course on agrarian rights. Upon returning they encouraged their
communities to begin organizing in La Organizaci6n. At this time, large plantations
persisted in the region, using the local Indians as peons. The organization was run
collectively in a conscious effort to avoid the caudillismo (the pursuit of personal power)
that had debilitated other independent movements. It organized mainly around issues of
land tenancy. In some cases, parts of ejido lands were controlled by local plantation owners
and in other cases peasants had been waiting years for legal titles to their lands or for
petitions for land extensions to be recognized.
The first action by LaOrganizucidn was a land recuperation in 1976. A coffee field
that had belonged to the ejido Lizaro Cdrdenas was taken over and farmed collectively by
the community. A year later when the owner attempted to retake the land by force, he
provoked a confrontation. The peasants were eventually given title to the land and other
occupied lands were recognized by the government at this time. The government's
resolution stimulated an even larger wave of land takeovers, as peasants sought new lands
and titles. This time the government's response was repression, and many peasants were
arrested as the military and judicial police came to occupy the zone of Simojovel. The
leaders of La Organizucidn sought the legal assistance of the CIOAC (Independent
Agricultural Workers and Peasants Central). The CIOAC negotiated on behalf of the Indian
peasants and accepted the transfer of many of them to other regions to work in the sugar
fields or on newly colonized lands. This was accepted without the permission of the leaders
of La Organizaci6n, and they eventually turned to the LP for support.
The CIOAC would again a m v e in Simojovel in 1980, based on a strategy of
organizing rural workers to act as a link between the peasantry and urban workers. The
workers were formed into unions, such as the cane cutters union formed in the Pujiltic
region by CIOAC. In Simojovel, the resident peons on the large coffee plantations
organized. They demanded payment of the debt owed to them by the plantation owner
arguing that they had worked for years from dawn to dusk for a wage that was one-tenth of
the minimum salary for the region (Renard 1997: 105).
Eventually the movement broke up after there were divisions over whether to accept
government land buyouts. Some communities went over to the CNC, others stayed with
CIOAC and still others joined the struggle initiated by the Casa del Pueblo in Venustiano
Carranza. In 1982 the movement united struggles in Venustiano Carranza with groups in
Simojovel and Las Margaritas. The Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) has
been the most independent of the other three movements. The CIOAC was connected with
the Mexican Communist Party and the UU negotiated with the government. The OCEZ has
survived a long history of repression against its leaders and attempts at cooptation.
Nevertheless, it continues to be a strong force in Chiapas. As part of the National
Coordination Plan de Ayala (CNPA), its strategy differs from the EZLN's, in that along
with the struggle for land it also seeks state power. Perhaps this explains its closer
affiliation with the Broad Front for the Construction of a National Liberation Movement
(FAC-MLN) since its emergence in 1995, an organization that has suspected ties with the
Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a traditional guemlla organization that has operated
throughout southern Mexico since 1996. Nevertheless, the OCEZ continued to sympathize
with the EZLN uprising. In fact, the uprising brought a unification of rural and popular
movements in Chiapas. One leader of OCEZ explained it:
The OCEZ-CNPA has about 1 5 years of struggling. In this time we have
been meeting with many other campesino groups such as the MOCRI
[Independent Regional Peasant Movement], and CIOAC. We made many
attempts to form fronts. We have attempted to unify the struggles. In 1994
with the appearance of the Zapatista Army it became much easier to unite
rapidly. That is when we formed the CEOIC. The unity included a women's
convention, the PRD and civil society. These forces eventually got together
and formed what we call AEDPCH [State Democratic Assembly of the
Chiapan People]. (interview with author March 1996)
Gaspar Morquecho a longtime activist in Chiapas and director of Chiltak (a nongovernmental organization that works on agrarian issues) explained to me:
In the 1970s the indigenous question was ignored as the campesinos were
seen first as peasant farmers. But in the 1980s this began to change. Since
1982 they have been discussing the indigenous question on an international
level and this culminated in the 1992 protests in San Crist6bal. (interview
with author April 1995)
By the late 1980s a group called ACIEZ formed, which encompassed most of the
areas that are now strong Zapatista supporters in eastern Chiapas, the northern zone and the
central highlands. This movement incorporated ethnicity and a reassertion of indigenous
identity into its struggle, a point that many of the earlier agrarian organizations influenced
by Marxism and Maoism had ignored. Ethnicity in the traditional view of the left was
considered "false co~sciousness"and most rural organizing focused on class. Ethnicity
was viewed by the left as "an ideal image in the mind of the dominant classes that functions
as an aid in the exploitation of the dominated classes" (Bartra 1993: 188).
This group mobilized in 1992 to protest the 30-year anniversary of the European
invasion of the Americas. Calling themselves ANCIEZ, and claiming representation on the
national level, their group marched on San Crist6bal and torn down the statue of the
Conqueror Diego de Mazariegos (Harvey 1996). Tello Diaz (1995) noted that the Zapatista
insurgents used the same route when they marched on San Crist6ba1, further supporting a
claim that this organization went underground to train for the insurrection. Protests of this
sort reflected the growing indigenous identity and the sentiment of many Indians that their
culture should be respected as equal with any other.
Another organization that would emerge in the Palenque region during the 1990s
was Xi'Nich ("ants" in Chol). It organized around both indigenous issues and agrarian
demands and made its most public demonstration by marching to Mexico City in 1991. The
MOCRI formed in the Marques de Comilla region of Ocosingo. A representative of
MOCRI described the mobilization and political action that the uprising sparked within the
peasant movement:
After the Zapatista uprising we saw the unification of many social
movements. One of the most important actions became civil resistance,
beginning in September 1994. In this stage we refused to recognize the
legitimacy of the government. We began to carry out various acts of
resistance in the communities and in popular urban zones. We stopped
paying for electricity. We haven't paid taxes on the ejido lands. We
repossessed government vehicles and trucks for the use of our campesino
organization. We began highway blockades, seizing municipal halls and
taking over radio stations to spread our views on civilian resistance.
(interview with author March 1995).
Thus a diversity of ideas and struggles flowed throughout rural Chiapas in the years
preceding and following the EZLN uprising. The EZLN entered the zone in 1983 and
provided another option for the indigenous peasants who no longer believed that change
could be achieved by peaceful or legal means.
The Formation of the EZLN
"We were left with no other path"
EZLN Comandante Guillermo
Major Mario affirmed that the EZLN was related to the National Liberation Forces (FLN)
neutralized in Ocosingo by the Mexican Armed Forces in 1974. "Yes we're from them," he
states. "The examples remain, but there's no one here who was there then" (Autonomedia
1994. %). According to Tello Diaz (1995) the FLN was founded in 1%8 by students and
intellectuals from northern Mexico. The organization had safe houses in Monterrey and
Mexico City, and began operating out of a ranch in Ocosingo in the early 19'70s. When the
military learned of the presence of the group, the ranch was raided, several people were
killed, others arrested, and a few escaped. One would later be known as Comandante
G e r m h , arrested in September 1995 under accusation of being one of the leaders of the
EZLN.
The FLN published a &page document in 1980entitled Estah~tos(Statutes). In the
document, the organization outlined a classical Marxist-Leninist program. The long-term
goal was to "politically and militarily overthrow the bourgeoisie" in order to "install a
socialist system that by socializing the means of production would overcome the
exploitation of the workers." In the short term, the goal was to "integrate the struggle of the
urban proletariat with the struggle of the peasants and Indians in the most exploited zones
of our country." This would be done by "forming the Zapatista National Liberation Army"
which would remain under the orders of the National Direction, "the highest politicalmilitary organism of the FLN (cited in Tello Diaz 1995: 97).
When the founders of the EZLN arrived in the Lacandon jungle this was the
formation that they brought with them. Subcomandante Marcos confirmed that "the EZLN
was born having as points of reference the political-military organizations of the guerrilla
movements in Latin America during the 60s and 70s" (Autonomedia 1994;-290). Thus the
original intention upon arriving in Chiapas was to connect the rural struggle with the urban
workers' movement. Reality, however, proved to require something different. Reflecting
back, Subcomandante Marcos said:
-
-
I believe there are many theories in crisis. Who would have thought that it
would be the indigenous peoples who would provoke all of this? Not even
in the Leninist conception of the weakest link was it thought that it might be
the indigenous people, right? I told you that there was a learning process at
the beginning of our work here, albeit a forced one [...I We were closed
minded, like any other orthodox leftist, like any other theoretician who
believes that he knows the truth. (Autonomedia 1994290)
\-.
During the first years in the jungle, EZLN organizers came to realize that organizing would
not be as they had thought. Each community had developed a strong system of collective
democracy, a decision-making method that clashed with the Leninist concept of a
revolutionary vanguard. Moreover, most of the Zapatista recruits were Indian peasants who
spoke Spanish as a second language and differed vastly from the outside organizers.
The Zapatista army included indigenous peasants from throughout the central
highlands and eastern lowlands of Chiapas. Most of the research that came out in 1994
focused on the eastern lowlands of Chiapas when it was clear that hundreds of the EZLN
militia that took San Cristbbal on January 1,1994,were Tzotzil speaking peasants from the
highland villages surrounding San Crist6bal. On January 1, 19%, with the inauguration of
the New Aguascalientes in Oventic, in the municipality of San Andr6s Larrainzar, the
EZLN made public what many had suspected: the Zapatistas were not only based in the
recently settled eastern lowland communities, but also throughout the highlands. Events
held at Oventic, such as the inauguration of the New Aguascalientes and the
Intercontinental Forum for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism were attended by
hundreds of EZLN members from highland communities, including Chamulas and
Zinacantecos, who were thought to be 100940PRI supporters. A ladino school teacher from
San AndrCs Larrainzar, explained to me that it was "well known that most of the Indians
from Larrainzar were Zapatistas, and they were the ones who took over San Crist6bal on
January 1, 1994, along with an elite group of insurgents from the jungle." (interview with
author May 1995)
Most analyses stress the importance of organizing in the eastern lowlands and the
new consciousness that was generated through the search for "salvation" in the eastern
jungles. An identity shift occurred as highland Maya left their traditional local communities
and mixed with other peasants throughout Chiapas and other states and began to see the
common plight of the indigenous peasant. This obviously had a reverse effect on highland
members as well. Through continued contact and communication, Indians in the highlands
were also influenced by what was happening in the eastern lowlands. Comandante David
explained in an interview:
Between the indigenous communities there remains communication even
though this has been influenced by the government and its party. The
government has been able to isolate indigenous communities so that each
municipality is put in .its place and there remains no reason to organize and
communicate with other municipalities. Nevertheless, within the indigenous
culture we have not completely lost the tradition of communicating among
different municipalities. The jungle is a great distance from here [the central
highlands] but there are many people from the highlands who due to serious
land problems have had to go to the jungle in search of land and work. So,
there has been a continued communication between the two regions as
people come and go. Many people from the highlands have created
communities and new colonies there. There has been a process of looking
for work and creating communities. This facilitated communication between
the two regions because of the great need for work and land. This
communication between the two regions also made us aware that all of the
indigenous communities in the jungle and the highlands have the same
needs and problems. (interview with author January 19%)
The culture of the central highlands retains a strong sense of indigenous identity.
Also, through colonization, communities developed localized identities that were often
controlled by local caciques. Chiapas's most renowned ethno-historian, Jan de Vos,
explained the differences of culture and how they mixed in the eastern lowlands:
It is very important to distinguish between the traditional system that exists
in the highlands within the most ancient communities and the new
communities that were founded in the Lacandon jungle. There is a very
different tradition in each of these regions. In the highlands the ancient
communities are organized in a pyramid-like manner with cargos and
oficios. The community members who are most apt gain respect and
prestige little by little until they are elders and become capable of making
decisions. On the other hand, in the new communities there was a large
influence by leftist movements, above all Maoists, who played a large role
in politicizing the indigenous populations. There was also a large influence
by the Catholic Church with the formation of Christian communities where
spirituality was put to the service of the brothers and sisters. This influenced
the recent settlers in the new communities by redefining each member as a
democratic subject. The result is that there was a mixing of new influences
with traditional influences in the jungle communities. . .The traditional and
the new combined to form the current democratic practices. (interview with
author January 19%)
The church was also present in the highlands and consciousness raising also took
place, though not on the same level as in the Lacandon lowlands. In the highlands,
Catholicism is not the uniting factor for Zapatista membership. In San Juan Chamula,
where a strict adherence to the traditional religious structures is necessary to remain part of
the community, an evangelical Protestant movement has sprung up over the last 30 years.
Chamulan Tzotziles who embraced evangelism were soon expelled from their communities.
Many of these expelled people now inhabit the miserable shantytowns that encircle San
Crist6bal and have taken over the steep slopes on the north side of the Jovel Valley. These
communities have become highly organized and openly expressed their sympathy with the
demands of the Zapatista uprising. Many of the evangelicals are now Zapatista supporters.
The highlands also have a history of rebellion. The most recent was the uprising in
1974 by the indigenous inhabitants of San Andrks Larrainzar. During this time, most of the
ladino landowners were forced to leave the municipality and the Indians reclaimed their
lands. A number of ladino landowners were killed as Indians attempted to evict them from
the lands of Larrainzar. That the centre of highland support for the Zapatista army would be
in Larrainzar is thus not surprising.
According to Comandante David, before 1994, most communities in the central
highlands were unaware that Indians were organizing and that an uprising would take
place. A large army from the highlands had obviously been training but it was kept a secret.
After the uprising, many more communities in the central highlands joined the Zapatista
Army. Comandante David explained:
Before the Zapatista Army existed, there was already [...I a web of
organizations articulated throughout various communities. So it was
through these broader organizational forms that communication was
facilitated. People were not migrating only for necessity but also to carry out
organizational work with clear objectives that gave people the possibility to
unite. In this way the organizing began to pick up speed, as representatives
went from community to community and many places that had been isolated
before. The movement grew, so that once this seed of organization had been
planted the unification of the different regions by the EZLN was easy. This
process was strongest in the jungle. [But in the highlands] because of the
distance and limited communication there were many people who still did
not know about the struggle and the Zapatista Army. These people never
thought there would be an armed uprising until it happened on January 1. I
am talking mainly about municipalities in the northern zone and in the
highlands. However, once they saw and heard about the uprising, they
were surprised at first, but a growing number of people began to understand
the causes of the uprising and we soon had many more sympathizers [....I
Many more people and municipalities have joined the movement since the
1994 uprising [....I It's easy [to join the EZLN]. Truthfully, it's very easy
because in each community there is an organization and there are authentic
leaders of the indigenous people. These leaders do not just remain in their
communities, they have to communicate with other compaiieros. They
communicate and articulate with other groups, including at the level of intermunicipal assemblies. In this way, then, it is done through agreements,
meetings, communications and group projects. It hasn't been a problem.
(interview with author January 19%)
Clearly then, the Zapatista movement was not solely a movement that arose from
the particular conditions in the eastern lowland jungle region of Chiapas. Many of the new
communities remained in contact with their places of birth and thus organizing was taking
place throughout Chiapas. The uprising served to speed up the process and make it easier.
By the end of 1996 parallel governments existed in highland communities such as
Chenalh6 and Pantelh6. One side was the PRI-elected government and on the other were
autonomous governments that had been popularly elected or elected using traditional
customs. These groups referred to themselves as the organized opposition. In an interview
with members of the autonomous government of Pantelh6 after their offices were burned
and they had been forcibly expelled from the municipal centre, they explained to me:
Let's face it. We are Zapatistas. All of us here form part of a Zapatista
support base. We want our brothers in Pantelhd to know that we are not
against them. We are fighting for broader changes and don't want to be
caught up in small local conflicts. Our struggle is not about fighting with
our indigenous brothers. We want them to know that we would like to
return peacefully. We don't want to confront them because we are fighting
on another level. (interview with author January 1997)
Many of the divisions became apparent after the October 1995municipal elections
in Chiapas when an order was given that Zapatista sympathizers should not vote. The
decision was partly based on the fact that municipal elections, especially in Chiapas's
indigenous communities, have been notoriously corrupt. This explains why in the 1988
election Chiapas was the state with the highest support for the PRI. Yet six years later they
were the first to rebel against it. My experience observing the elections in several hamlets of
the municipality of Mitontic confirmed the electoral corruption. I traveled with a PRI
cacique (strongman) who went to several hamlets, gave a speech, passed out Coca Cola,
and then oversaw the voting. The balloting took place in the open air of the local plazas and
anyone was free to look over the voters' shoulders and see who they were voting for. Not
surprisingly, in this case the PRI won over 90% of the vote. Given these conditions it
would be logical that the opposition would make the decision to not take part in a game that
was stacked against it. Nevertheless, Marcos later stated that everyone was free to vote, but
in many municipalities where the opposition held the majority, the PRI took power.
Ongoing disputes were the result.
In San AndrBs Larrainzar, a PRD government would not permit the PRI to take
power, arguing that through traditional practices the PRD had won in an earlier election.
Both governments set up office in San AndrCs and an ongoing dispute between them
resulted. This pattern was reflected throughout many communities but it became most
polarized in the northern zone of Chiapas, in the Chol region of Sabanilla, Tila, Tumbala,
Salto de Agua, and Palenque.
Comandante Pedro announced in May 19% that "it was not just Roberto Bamos
that declared itself Zapatista, but many other communities in the northern zone." At the
inauguration of the EZLN site he told me: "This Aguascalientes site is a centre of civil
resistance for all of the Zapatista communities in the northern zone" (interview with author
May 1996). In this region the opposition held the majority yet the PRI took power. In
Sabanilla, the PRD opposition and the EZLN protested by taking over and holding the
municipal hall for several months. In response to the growing drift toward Zapatista
support, the government and its security forces went on the counter-offensive. A
paramilitary group called Paz y Justicia was formed, composed of PRI members. They
were armed and organized into groups that used violence as a form of intimidation. Soon
the region was polarized and an undeclared civil war broke out. In many communities of
the northern zone, hundreds of families opposed to the government were forcibly evicted
from their homes. While in refuge PRI supporters burned down their homes and stole
everything they owned. Since 1995 a series of violent confrontations have occurred,
usually camed out by Paz y Justicia against opposition families, supporters of Bishop Ruiz
and the Catholic Church and human rights workers trying to reconcile the two sides. The
origins of the paramilitary group are in an official teachers union supported by PRI state
deputy Samuel SBnchez (see Ni Paz Ni Justicia).
Violence has been camed out by both sides but the vast majority of the cases are
camed out by the PRI groups. The public security forces turn a blind eye to their abuses.
Clearly, the policy is part of the government's broader counter-insurgency strategy. They
have armed one side of the Chols in order to demobilize the other side that is sympathetic to
the EZLN and seeks social change. The inauguration of a New Aguascalientes in Roberto
Barrios, Palenque was attended by Chols from all the northern region openly declaring
their integration into the Zapatista support bases.
The EZLN thus developed within a rich growing context of activist cultures.
Culture then is relevant in this case in that "culture systems may, on the one hand, be
considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action"
(Krober and Kluckhon 1963 cited in Lofland 1996: 191). Access to these earlier
organizational efforts provided a resource base the EZLN could exploit. In addition it
helped shape the development of its own movement culture. There was a constant process
of mutual influence between organizers and the organized. This dialogical relationship
helped create the novel movement culture of Zapatismo. The following chapter explores the
EZLN and its public expressions as a social movement.
Forming a Social Movement:
Zapatista Expressions
"Whatdo we do with the people who d2ained the war? Did they only
detain it or were they willing to do something more?"
Subcomandante Marcos (Le Bot 1997: 250)
After twelve days of fighting, the EZLN transformed from a rebel army to the Zapatista
movement that includes thousands of supporters from national and international "civil
society". Under the conditions of an armed stand-off, the movement has become more
sophisticated and experienced in its actions. In more than three years of public existence,
the EZLN has developed a unique strategy for convoking broad sectors of Mexican civil
society and international solidarity. The peace talks with the government were the EZLN's
most visible expression, providing an important forum for the development of the
movement. Its public actions, however, extend well beyond this sphere. The EZLN has
convoked international encounters to discuss the effects of neoliberal economic policies
worldwide and forums dealing with indigenous rights and state reform in Mexico. In
addition, it has held numerous counter-celebrations and spectacle events that allow the
movement and its sympathizers to express themselves by reinterpreting official versions of
Mexico's political and historical reality .
The purpose of this chapter is to bring these Zapatista expressions into closer focus
in order to deepen understanding of how the Zapatista uprising is using the mobilization of
organized groups and individuals in civil society and international solidarity to create a
broad social movement that supports its demands. My emphasis in Chiapas, observing the
development of the movement for more than two years, informs much of the following
description and analysis. I attempt to capture the novelty of the movement and argue that it
represents a new direction for the left, which is floundering in the wake of the fall of
socialism as practiced in the Eastern bloc.
I argue that the EZLN is better understood through its manifestation as social
movement rather than through its initial acts as a rebel army. Since the uprising, the
EZLN's military component has played a minor role in the movement's overall strategy,
existing only for self-defense and symbolic expressions. On the other hand, the EZLN has
managed to mobilize large sectors of national and international support. The EZLN
converted its earlier political-military strategy of capturing state power into a social strategy
aimed at harnessing the dynamic force of civil society to build power instead of take it.
To the outside observer, the Zapatista movement functions in both clandestine and
-
public dimensions. The movement's day-to-day operations are carried out in covert spaces
by networks of small groups involved in organizational planning and decision making. For
.-
larger decisions; affecting the movement's base communities, democratic consultations are
-
-
held. Of the clandestine dimension, little information can be gathered at this point. The
public expressions of the EZLN, however, give us good material for a deeper
understanding of the movement.
This chapter is divided into four sections. First, I argue that since the cease-fire the
EZLN is best understood in its manifestation as a social movement. Second, I examine the
Zapatista strategy based on its definition of civil society. This strategy has been employed
through the EZLN's relationships with the government, its supporters and the public at
large. In the third section, I deal with Zapatista expressions. I have divided the EZLN's
visible expressions into three types: first, its relations with the government in the context of
peace dialogues; second, its relations with supporters, from national and international civil
society, in public forums, encounters and counter-commemorative and spectacle events;
and third, its relations with the public at large, using the media and a strategy of timely
communiquCs. In the fourth section, I discuss the state's response to Zapatismo and the
military effort to contain the movement and its support bases. I thus portray the EZLN in its
functions as a social movement in motion, its expressions as a social force and the counterforces it faces.
The EZLN as a Social Movement
It is difficult to describe the Zapatista movement, using antecedents in Latin American
history. It is different from the classic Latin American guerrilla movement; the EZLN
described its military component as a conventional people's army. Rather than functioning
as a foco unit carrying out lightning-strike actions to gain support, it waited until it had
recruited a full army before its first operation. It attacked military installations and briefly
held four major towns in Chiapas on January 1,1994. Since the cease-fire was declared on
January 12, however, the two sides have remained at an armed stand-off. The Zapatista
movement has operated with both proactive expressions and with reactive defense
movements. It has had to constantly read and interpret the government's double discourse
of peace and dialogue on one hand and militarization and repression on the other.
The federal government broke the cease-fire on February 9, 1995, by launching a
military offensive, under the cover of a police action. Thousands of troops and armoured
vehicles entered Zapatista-held territory with arrest warrants for the movement's leaders.
Instead of fighting, Zapatista soldiers evacuated the people in its support communities and
then fled themselves. When the federal troops entered the empty communities, they
ransacked homes and destroyed health clinics, potable water systems and power supplies.
Eventually, national and international human rights observers accompanied the people back
to their villages. In many communities "civilian peace camps" were created, providing the
villagers with a permanent presence of outside observers to discourage further open
aggression.
Thus, even under attack, the EZLN has chosen to maintain its military component
as a self-defense organization to protect its base communities. The EZLN has put its troops
on red alert on several occasions and threatened that if the federal army made another
military offensive into the communities of the conflict zone the Zapatista Army would not
retreat. To date, however, that has been the extent of the EZLN's military activities. The
characteristics of guerrilla warfare are, thus, not present. Latin America's most renowned
guerrilla commander, Che Guevara, wrote in his essay Guerrilla Warfare: A Method, that
"guerrilla warfare is not passive self-defense; it is defense with attack" (Guevara 1985:
189). The EZLN rejects the model of guerrilla warfare, instead seeing itself as a growing
--
social force.
The military situation since February 1995 emphasizes this point. The federal army
penetrated the conflict zone with heavy weaponry and continues to occupy eastern Chiapas
in military encampments. Human rights groups estimate that there are as many as 60,000
federal troops in the zone (almost one soldier for every three inhabitants). The EZLN
constructed five "Aguascalientes" sites-cultural spaces and centres of resistance that
symbolized the rebel movement's right to exist in disagreement with the government. The
EZLN's peace talk delegates were transferred from these points when dialogues were in
session. The EZLN thus existed openly with the federal army's acknowledgment of where
its leaders could be found. This situation hardly conforms to the strategic operations of a
guerrillafoco, that relies on clandestine strongholds to retreat to after lightning attack. The
Aguascalientes sites are open declarations of the EZLN's existence. They are used for
political and counter-cultural meetings and the ongoing construction of a broad-based social
movement. By means of the "Dialogue Law" signed in the ejido San Miguel in March
1995, the EZLN has been able to push forward its social strategy. The law gives amnesty
to members of the Zapatista Army as long as the peace dialogues are in process. The EZLN
continues to test the law's boundaries in its attempt to establish direct contact with civil
society.
Instead of thinking of the EZLN as a guemlla organization or military organization,
it is better described as a social movement in constant motion searching for new ways to
pick up momentum, depending on the changing political climate. As stated, it does not seek
the conquest of political power through violence as its final goal, instead it holds arms as a
form of self-defense. The strategy is to unite Mexican civil society, creating a diverse
collection of groups to demand democracy and the end of the world's oldest one-party
system, once described by Mario Vargas Llosa as the "perfect dictatorship." On the
international level, the EZLN calls on sympathetic sectors from across the globe to
denounce neoliberal international trade policies that put countries like Mexico in direct
competition with the world's industrial powers-a policy that hits workers, peasants and
indigenous people the hardest.
The social protest mobilized by the EZLN uprising has had a visible impact on
Mexico's political system. The EZLN's spectacular entrance into contemporary history on
January 1 prompted a new democratic impulse questioning Mexico's narrow, entrenched
political system. Several important changes have come about as direct and indirect results
of the Zapatista rebellion. In the initial days of the uprising, Mexico's Interior minister was
forced to resign, an important pact was signed between the country's leading parties, and
the EZLN-sponsored National Democratic Convention (CND) brought the most important
national forces of centre-left opposition together. In Chiapas, campesinos united and took
over lands at an unprecedented rate, new popular and non-governmental organizations
formed, the PRD's popularity in the state soared to unprecedented levels, and a shadow
government was created as a protest against the electoral irregularities that occurred during
the 1994national elections. Eventually, Chiapas's newly-elected PRI governor was forced
to step down. On the national level, important reforms were made to the Federal Electoral
Institute (IFE) in 1994 and 1 W , culminating in the PRI losing its absolute majority in the
national Congress for the first time in Mexican history. This impulse can be at least
indirectly attributed to the pressure for democratic change led by the Zapatistas.
Through negotiations the EZLN has opened important political spaces. Agreements
signed in September, 1995 gave the EZLN a place in discussions of state reform and set in
motion a formal procedure for negotiating the movement's demands (see appendix 4). The
first accord on indigenous rights and culture signed in San Andrbs (February 1996) obliges
the state to seriously reform its relationship with Mexico's indigenous people. The EZLN
has been able to do this with a strategy based on defemng authority to civil society-what it
calls mandarobedeciendo (to rule by obeying).
Its strategies are novel in the history of Latin American popular and armed
movements. In the context of the post-Cold War political junction and the post-modern
critique of universalizing "grand narratives," the EZLN is a step forward that gives new
direction to the Latin American left. While many of the concepts of the old left have fallen
into disrepute, the need for profound change continues. This is especially true in Latin
America under the New World Order dominated by neoliberal economics and the
globalization of the cultural values of individualism and consumption. The EZLN
represents a new force for change in a left that was searching for alternatives to what many
perceived as old and stagnant programs.
Winning Civil Society
The term civil society has a long tradition in political theory, being used by Locke,
Rousseau, M a n and Gramsci, to name a few. In Mexico the term has taken on a specific
meaning refemng to the movement of individuals as citizens and organizations that rose to
deal with the catastrophe brought about by the 1985 earthquake. Carlos Monsavais
chronicled the movement of citizens and declared that the earthquake gave birth to an active
socio-political force called civil society. The EZLN's definition is quite specific.
Comandante Moisds described civil society as follows:
Civil society is made up of many independent organizations that are against
the government. These organizations have shown that if the government
does not comply with its commitments the people will be on the side of the
Zapatista Army because they see that our struggle is just, that our struggle is
a struggle for everyone. Civil society does not want to see only signed
papers. They want real change and our struggle will continue until we have
this change. (interview with author May 1996)
The emergence of the people in the modern democratic sense can be seen in the
French Revolution. The people rose up to man the barricades and overthrow the
monarchical order. The republic was invented and the rule of the people was established, at
least in theory, by rights and constitutions. In Mexico this process was initiated by
independence as a republican constitution was established, although it was largely carried
out by creole elites. Despite the Mexican Revolution and the overthrow of the old order,
independent organizations thereafter remained marginal until the student movement in the
late 1%0s sparked the emergence of mew organizations that rose against the repressive
state. In Chiapas, the Mexican Revolution did not even bring a momentary autonomy, it
was orchestrated from above. It was not until the 1920s that civil society began to emerge
as an organized entity, and it was mobilized only as a means for elite control (Benjamin
1989).True independent mobilization did not occur until the 1970s, and it was in this
movement that the EZLN would form its organizational roots.
In order to understand the EZLN as a social movement one must explore its use of
the notion "civil society." It is the cornerstone of the EZLN's political strategy. In the
EZLN's second packet of communiquCs to the press, it began to discuss Mexican civil
society. The General Command of the Revolutionary Clandestine Indigenous Committee
(CCRI-CG) stated, in a communiquC dated January 20, 1994, that the EZLN did not see
itself as the "true historic vanguard" of Mexico's popular struggle. The communiquC
recognized the legitimacy of many "honest" organizations that used different methods but
had goals similar to those of the EZLN. In the following communiquC the General
Command recognized the importance of civil society:
The EZLN has received the sympathy of diverse people, organizations and
sectors of the Mexican and international civil society. The honourable and
decided action by these progressive forces has truly opened the possibility
for a just political solution to the conflict [....I Neither the political will of
the federal executive nor the glorious military actions of our combatants
have been as decisive for this turn in the conflict as have been the public
protests [...I by the many honest and independent individuals and
organizations that form part of what is called Mexican civil society.
(Autonomedia 1994)
Media coverage of the uprising sparked mass protests in Mexico City and at
Mexican embassies around the world. President Salinas's decision to bomb, strafe and
rocket-fire the fleeing rebels was perceived as unnecessary and heavy-handed. The
worldwide reaction to the military counter-offensive eventually brought on the cease-fire
and negotiations. In the first post-declaration-of-war communiqu6 there is a call on all
sympathetic individuals and organizations to unite, not under the EZLN's banner, but for
the movement's broad goals of freedom,justice and democracy. This was the beginning of
the EZLN's civil society strategy.
The EZLN uses communiqu6s in the form of "declarations" to define its broad
strategies. The First Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle was the initial declaration of war
made public on January 1, 1994. The Second Declaration was released on June 12, 1994,
in conjunction with a refusal of the government's offer to meet 3 2 of the EZLN's 34
proposals after the first round of peace talks. In the Second Declaration, the EZLN clearly
defines and elaborates on its political strategy with civil society.
We will continue to respect the cease-fire in order to permit civil society to
organize in whatever forms it considers pertinent towards the goal of
achieving a transition to democracy in our country [....I We call upon civil
society to retake the protagonist's role that it first took in order to stop the
military phase of the war. We call upon civil society to organize itself in
order to direct peaceful efforts towards democracy, freedom and justice.
(Autonomedia 1994)
The EZLN does not seek to become part of the formal political system. The
movement believes that the issues it raises cannot be mediated fully within the limitations of
. -
Mexico's political decision-making process. Within this system, notorious for its ability to
coopt and neutralize opposition, the EZLN has managed to sustain a dialogue with the
government without sacrificing its independence.
A final revelation of the Zapatistas' strategy is in a communiquC written by
SubcomandanteMarcos addressed to the People's Revolutionary Army (EPR). This army
made its first peaceful public appearance on June 28, 1996, before unleashing coordinated
guemlla-style attacks on five federal army bases in Guerrero, Oaxaca and the Federal
District two months later on August 28th. The EPR appears to be a classic guerrilla
organization with a vanguardist organizational structure and the goal of overthrowing the
state through violence. In response to the EPR's offer of support, Subcomandante Marcos
writes:
We do not want your help [...I We take pride in not owing anything to any
national or international political organization. The support that we want,
look for and need is from national and international civil society [...I What
we look for, need and want, is that all those people without a party or
organization come to an agreement regarding what they do and don't want,
and that they organize in order to achieve it (preferably using peaceful and
legal means), not in order to take power but to exercise it. (LaJomada p.9
September 3,19%)
This, then, is the strategy which motivates the actions of the EZLN. Its attempt to win civil
society is through its operations in the visible dimension of its existence.
'
There have been at least three attempts by the EZLN to organize civil society in a
?
r
form that could be capable of gathering enough support to effect change in the system. The
i
first attempt came out of the creation of the National Democratic Convention (CND)
announced in the Second Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle. This brought together
close to 6,000 Mexican intellectuals, opposition politicians and grassroots supporters
before the national elections in 1994. The idea was to create a show of opposition that
would inspire Mexicans to vote for any other party but the PRI. Nevertheless, when the
PRI took power yet again the CND lost momentum and two more meetings led nowhere.
The second attempt to organize civil society was presented in the third declaration
from the Lacandon Jungle, announced on January 1, 1995. In this document the EZLN
called for the creation of a civilian National Liberation Movement (MLN). Before this could
get anywhere, the military unleashed an offensive against Zapatista support communities
and several alleged EZLN safe houses throughout Mexico. This offensive completely
changed the dynamic of the movement and put the MLN on the back burner as renewed
peace talks and the withdrawal of Subcornandante Marcos from the central spotlight became
the new concern.
The third and the latest attempt to organize civil society was announced in the
Fourth Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle on January 1, 1996, with the creation of the
Zapatista National Liberation Front (FZLN). This was the result of a "Grand Consultation"
organized as a survey of the opinions of EZLN supporters within civil society. More than
one million people participated, the majority asking that the EZLN become a political force.
The proposal of the FZLN is to set up local chapters for discussing national themes and
coming to conclusions regarding actions. It is a form of both political education and action.
Promoters work throughout the country organizing committees to eventually form the base
of a nation-wide opposition front.
Relations with Government: Peace Talks
In concordance with the EZLN's policy of following the will of civil society, it has
sought from the beginning to achieve its demands on the government through a peace
process based on dialogue, negotiation and mediation. After three years, the negotiations
have come to be only one part of the movement's broad-based strategy. The first dialogue
in San Cristobal's Cathedral resulted in the government agreeing to 32 of the EZLN's 34
proposals. The government proposal was tempting as it spoke to improving the basic living
conditions of indigenous communities in Chiapas, but it was not willing to deal with the
issue of the North American Free Trade Agreement or land reform dealing with Article 27.
Gaspar Morquecho, Chiltak director explained the refusal in this way:
The government will only address material demands but is not willing to put
democracy, liberty or justice on the table. What it offers EZLN communities
is akin to the lives of chickens being fattened on a poultry farm. The chicken
has a house, food, perhaps medical attention but it certainly does not have
democracy. This is not what the Zapatistas want! (Interview March 1995)
After consulting with its base communities, the EZLN refused the government's
offer, opting instead to mobilize its supporters in the CND. It took another year before the
two sides met again, this time in the context of the February 1995 federal army offensive
that included new arrest wa&ints for several EZLN commanders. A new "Dialogue Law"
was passed in March 1995, designed to protect EZLN negotiators. Two mediating bodies
were created: the CONAI (National Intermediary Commission) headed by Bishop Samuel
Ruiz and made up of intellectuals and clergy, and the COCOPA (Peace and Conciliation
Commission) made up of legislatorsfrom Mexico's main political parties.
The first six months of talks focused mainly on organizing a military withdrawal
from the conflict zone. Communities such as Guadalupe Tepeyac remained abandoned (and
continued so more than two years after the February offensive) because of military bases at
the community's entrance and exit. Talks on de-militarization did not progress. In fact,
human rights groups documented a heavy increase of troops and base camps in the conflict
zone since the peace talks were re-initiated.
The other theme that occupied the first six negotiation sessions between the
government and the EZLN was the question of what they should be negotiating and how
they would go about it. Finally, on September 12, 1995, in the sixth round of peace talks,
a new dialogue schedule was agreed upon (see appendix 4). The new structure for peace
talks was organized around specific themes; first, Indigenous Rights and Culture; second,
Democracy and Justice; third, Economics and Social Welfare; and finally Women's Rights.
Each theme was to be discussed in work sessions divided into three phases. The first phase
puts all the issue on the table. The second phase includes invitees on both sides with the
goal of reaching agreements about what issues stay on the table and what issues remain.
The third session is when a final proposal is drawn up and then taken to the EZLN base
communities for their approval. Once accords have been signed under these four themes
there will be three more rounds of talks, dealing with reconciliation between the distinct
sectors of Chiapan society, political and social participation of the EZLN and finally an
integral de-militarization and disarmament. (interview by author with OnCcimo Hidalgo,
CONPAZ, October 1996)
The first accord between the government and the EZLN was signed February 16,
19%. The EZLN called it a minimal accord because it did not include some of the more
serious demands such as reforms in agrarian policy and autonomy for indigenous nations.
Nevertheless, it was perceived as a step forward and allowed the EZLN to postpone the
accord's shortcomings with respect to other topics.
The next theme was Democracy and Justice. These discussions have been stalled
several times due to the government's sentencing of presumed Zapatistas and again due to
the government's lack of seriousness, continued state-sponsored violence in northern
Chiapas and the holding of 16 presumed Zapatistas in jail. Comandante MoisCs expressed
his concern about the peace talk process in an interview in March 19%:
Speaking in relation to the dialogue, we see it at this time as something very
difficult. Like we have said from the very beginning we do not see true will
from the government. The first phase of this second session on Justice and
Democracy has been difficult because the government has demonstrated as
always its belief that the dialogue is not the solution to the problems. This is
a clear demonstration because the government didn't even bring any invited
guests, just a few advisors who we don't know. So this is a clear
demonstration that the government does not want to dialogue. We have said
clearly that we do not have confidence in the dialogue. Mexican civil society
has told us, since January 1994 when we rose up in arms, to seek a
dialogue. So, we put our arms to the side so that we can talk with the
government. In this way we have accepted the voice of the Mexican civil
society and our brothers throughout the world. So we are complying with
our word and continuing the dialogue. We will continue because we didn't
rise up in arms to kill people but instead we did it to defend our rights
because the government for so many years has been deaf. With hundreds of
thousands of people shouting for land, solutions to their problems and for
their rights, the government did not hear. But after we rose up in 1994, and
the government saw that the war was difficult, the people also asked the
government that they dialogue with words not guns because with arms there
is no solution. The people asked for a solution through dialogues and
peaceful measures. We, the Zapatistas, rose up in arms because the
government made it necessary. We are trying to push the dialogues forward
until the government says it no longer wants to. We will continue
complying with our word and with what the Mexican civil society asks for.
We didn't want to make war; it was the only option left open to us.
The government has not even begun implementing the points agreed to in the first
accord concerning indigenous rights, provoking the EZLN to suspend the peace talks on
September 3, 19%. In candid conversations, Zapatista spokesperson Comandante David
made clear that the EZLN does not expect much to come from the peace talks. Its hope lies
in the mobilization of civil society. The EZLN believes that without the support of civil
society the agreements will remain pieces of paper. The EZLN has converted the dialogue
into a forum for addressing the problems that its communities and all of Mexico face. By
suspending the dialogue the EZLN pushes forward its demand that the government comply
with the San Andrts accords and also bring to light injustices which previously went
ignored, such as thousands of displaced EZLN supporters in the northern zone and dozens
of political prisoners in Cerro Hueco.
The EZLN converted the dialogues into a forum for keeping their demands in the
public sphere, while opening the political space and time frame to carry out political
organizing with civil society. On the other hand, it suits the government's interest to
continue negotiating with the EZLN. They project an image of having the situation under
control, which is important to international investors, Mexico's financial stability and the
prolongation of the "perfect dictatorship".
Relations with Civil Society: Spectacle Events, Forums and Encounters
Beyond the peace talks the EZLN has been highly creative in finding new ways of
uniting its ideas with diverse sectors of national and international civil society. There are
two types of EZLN public forums. The first type is dedicated to celebration, speech
making, commemoration and symbolic resistance. These events I call public spectacles.
The second type is more involved in discussing, debating and the creation of proposals and
strategies to push the movement forward. These events are referred to as Forums and
Encounters. They are working events rather than celebration events.
The EZLN uses public spectacles to maintain its momentum. The inauguration of
several "Aguascalientes" centres of resistance, the well-publicized visits of world renowned
intellectuals, celebrities and political figures, and counter-commemorative events that serve
as alternatives to the government "truths" and symbolically act as forms of resistance and
rebellion while staying within the discourse of the nation, all fall under the category of
spectacle events. Such events subvert the governments portrayal of nationhood by
contradicting and de-legitimizing it and giving it a radical Zapatista interpretation. The
symbolic discourse achieved through such events boldly positions the EZLN and its
supporters as the true inheritors of the ideals of the Mexican Revolution.
The history of the Aguascalientes centres refers to the EZLN's first meeting with
civil society at the National Democratic Convention (CND) held weeks before the national
elections in August 1994. The site, built by the EZLN with cooperative labour on the
outskirts of the community of Guadalupe Tepeyac, in the municipality of Las Margaritas,
was named Aguascalientes to evoke the Sovereign Revolutionary Convention held in the
state of Aguascalientes in December, 1914. This important meeting brought together the
Zapatistas, Villistas and Carranzistas to set up elections and decide what direction the
government would take in the wake of the overthrow of General Huerta. The convention
has been described as "the most democratic moment of the Mexican Revolution," one in
which the two peasant armies of Villa and Zapata had the upper hand (Rajchenberg and
Htau-Lambert 1996: 43). In the Second Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle,
Subcomandante Marcos prefaces the communiquC with a quote from a Zapatista delegate
who attended the 1914 convention.
The symbolic power of the first Aguascalientes was not overlooked by the
government when it invaded the region in February 1995. Troops have occupied
Guadalupe Tepeyac ever since. The Aguascalientes site was razed to the ground and a
military base now occupies the site. This was a blow to the movement. During the
discussions of de-militarization,the government made it clear that Guadalupe Tepeyac was
not debatable. The Zapatistas responded by saying they would then build many more
Aguascalientes. The government did not take them seriously.
Six months later the EZLN announced upcoming celebrations for what would be
the inauguration of four New Aguascalientes coinciding with celebrations of the second
anniversary of the Zapatista uprising. At the site in Oventic, municipality of San Andrts
Larrainzar, less than one-hour from San Cristbbal, Comandante Moists spoke of the
significanceof the New Aguascalientes:
The new Aguascalientes has much meaning. It symbolizes the unity of the
people, the organization of the people, the collective nature of the people,
the hope of the people: the marginalized people, the indigenous people of
Mexico and the world. We feel that the [various] new Aguascalientes
signify an alliance and a unity of organizations in search of democracy,
liberty and justice. That is what we are trying to achieve [...I The
government cannot get rid of us. If the government tries to destroy part of
us [referring to the destruction of the first Aguascalientes site], we will
make sure many more replace it. If the government tries to isolate or divide
us, we will always come back stronger. (interview with author December
1995)
:
The inauguration of four Aguascalientes in Oventic, municipality of San Andrks
Larrainzar; La Garrucha, municipality of Ocosingo; La Realidad, municipality of Las
Margaritas; and Morelia, municipality of Altamirano, took place from December 27, 1995
to January 1, 19%. Participants included the press, national and international civil society
and thousands of indigenous people from surrounding communities and respective
organizations. There were speeches, cultural events, art workshops for children and
information centres. Each evening the participants would unite in front of the main stage
and dance to the popular commdos.On New Year's Eve the EZLN cornandante amved to
greet the crowd. The EZLN used the forum to present the Fourth Declaration from the
Lacandon Jungle.
These inaugurations serve as celebration events. They are also part of the broader
campaign by the movement called rompiendo el cerco-breaking the enclosure. The meaning
of the bamer has changed over time. First the barrier was the military roadblock that
surrounded the EZLN in what before February 1995 was known as Zapatista temtory or
the liberated zone. The army had confined the EZLN militarily to this region. Nevertheless
through their media strategy they were capable of making their voice heard outside the
zone. The EZLN, however, continually insisted that it had support beyond this region and
suggested that parts of its armed forces existed outside the region as well. The first effort to
break the barrier came in December 1994 when EZLN troops in a combined military and
media event began to take positions outside the military lines in 38 municipalities,
simultaneously sending faxes to the press with chronological accounts of each action. They
blocked roads, took over municipal halls and camed out symbolic acts such as raising the
107
EZLN flag. As this was done the Zapatista.s began to renlam~eeach munici pality, using
revolutionary symbolism. The new municipalities were given rebel names such as Che
Guevara, First of January, Labour, etc. While there was minimal confrontation, the
propaganda effects were enormous. The next day Mexico's peso fell dramatically. The idea
that the EZLN was breaking out beyond the barrier gave international investors the jitters.
The event became the straw that broke the camel's back. It coincided with the realization
that ex-president Carlos Salinas had manipulated Mexico's financial condition and that the
economy was being propped up artificially. Soon Mexico was facing its worse financial
situation since the 1982 debt crisis.
The EZLN's main medium for communicating with civil society has been through
forums and encounters that have been allowed to take place under the conditions of
dialogue. The forums have inspired meaningful discussions among Mexico's diverse
indigenous populations, opposition political groups, most factions of Mexico's left and
international groups and individuals who face similar conditions in their respective
countries or sympathize with the Zapatista movement on political grounds.
In order to demonstrate the diversity of the EZLN's struggle, I wish to give two
examples of back-to-back forums that I attended, both organized by the EZLN but each
very different in its orientation. The two events were the American Continental Encounter
for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism (3-8April 1996 in La Realidad, Chiapas) and the
First Meeting of the Permanent National Indigenous Forum (10-12 April 1996 in Oventic,
Chiapas). Both meetings were part of the EZLN's efforts to work with national and
international civil society in developing common strategies and points of resistance.
The Encounter was a meeting of activists and academics from throughout the
western hemisphere in preparation for the Intercontinental Encounter which took place at
the end of July, 19%. The meeting brought together sectors of Mexican and international
civil society. The groups were divided into discussion tables concerned with various
aspects of how one lives under neoliberalism: economically, politically, socially, culturally
and the problems faced by the Indian peoples of the Americas. At the table of indigenous
peoples there were representatives from Michoacan, Oaxaca, the Chiapan highlands,
Veracruz, Guatemala, from the American Indian Movement in the United States and also a
Chicano representative. There were also non-indigenous activists who had worked in
support of indigenous rights in the United States and Mexico.
In opening statements, the EZLN made clear that solutions to the Zapatistas' main
demands could only come through the full participation of all sectors of Mexican civil
society. Neoliberalism was the new economic and political order that put the free mobility
of global capital over the needs of communities and smaller localities. Individual rights
superseded community rights. Social programs set up to guarantee minimal living
standards were considered to be inefficient. For the indigenous person, neoliberalism was
part of a broader campaign of globalization. The cultural values and technologies of the
most financially well off nations were spreading at an alarming rate. In the meeting, people
talked about the loss of community values.
A Zapotec man from Oaxaca spoke about the loss of traditional values in his
community. He said that before if the bread-winner in the family passed away, the
community would support his family by sharing its harvests or helping to work in the
family's fields. It was a system of mutual support, something similar to a functioning
welfare state but on the community level. Now, he said the culture of money is taking over
the communities. He believed that neoliberalism was imposing a form of life that did not
belong to the indigenous people. This indigenous representative, however, did not call for
more aid from the government. He instead called for free determination. He said, "If we
need a road, we will build it. If we need a clinic, we will construct it ourselves. The
concept of self-government is built within the indigenous traditions. We don't need the
state." A Tzotzil representative from the highlands of Chiapas spoke about the importance
of language. In Tzotzil the often seen suffix "tic" means "ours". He said that the concept of
individualism does not exist in indigenous communities.
Beyond these discussions, the Encounter also served as an important means of
producing images for outside consumption. There was a lot of showmanship as armed
EZLN comandantes would ride into the Aguascalientes site on horseback in processions
that could not have been improved by a stage director. Beyond discussing the serious
problems that many groups were facing under neoliberalism, it was a celebration of
Zapatismo that included dancing, music and a festive environment. Food was served in the
Arbolito Rojo Cafe, Zapatista posters and red handkerchiefs were sold. There was a shared
feeling that each participant was experiencing the rebellion. Low flying military aircraft that
buzzed the site gave each person a shared identity that they were together in a struggle
against an identifiable foe.
This sense of sharing in the struggle had been reinforced earlier by the trip to the
site in La Realidad where foreigners passed through an immigration roadblock and each
person in a caravan of 10buses had their name taken down by immigration officials as well
as all the data regarding their entrances and exits from Mexico and how many times their
visas had been renewed. While this was taking place, it was discovered that another official
from the Interior Ministry was covertly videotaping the whole scene from inside a pick-up
truck. This provoked many of the Mexican activists to converge on the truck and relieve the
man of the video cassette, and then publicly humiliate him, calling him a disgrace to
Mexico.
The intercontinental encounter continued the same tradition with important public
figures such as Danielle Mitterand, Eduardo Galeano and Daniel Viglietti (Uruguayan father
of the nueva c m i d n ) visiting the site in La Realidad. Thus the important point about the
encounters is that they are international events that open spaces for alternative analysis as
much as a celebration of what the EZLN is trying to create. The second intercontinental
occurred in Spain, bringing together several thousand international supporters and two
official representatives of the EZLN.
The Permanent National Indigenous Forum met in Oventic, the EZLN
Aguascalientes site in the central highlands in April 19%. This forum took place just days
after the American Continental Encounter had finished. The tone was also one of
celebration but much more focused on organizational work. The participants were for the
most part Indians, from all over Mexico. There were only a dozen or so foreigners acting
as observers who were allowed to attend the sessions but could not participate. The
purpose of the meeting was to formalize the creation of the Permanent Indigenous Forum
as a product of the EZLN-sponsored National Indigenous Forum that had taken place in
January, 1996. Independent indigenous organizations met at the site for three days to
discuss the creation of a national network. The National Indigenous Congress created on
October 12,19%would eventually be the result.
The group of several hundred participants split up into five groups to discuss
strategies for promoting and disseminating the resolutions that had come out of the first
National Indigenous Forum, dealing with autonomy and the right of the indigenous peoples
to a new relationship with the state, the rights of indigenous women and issues
surrounding land and territoriality. At the table I attended there were representatives from
Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Nayarit, Jalisco and the Federal District. The participants
discussed the idea of setting up regional promotion commissions that would act as
"bridges" bringing the ideas of the Forum to indigenous communities across Mexico.
One Chol-speaking man from Tabasco spoke of the difficulty of discussing their
ideas about the Forum in his community, where the PRI was powerful. He told the group:
"There is sympathy but many have fear that when we talk about the EZ they think the war
will begin again" (April 10, 19%). A woman from Jalisco talked about how the Zapatista
uprising created momentum for the agenda of indigenous rights:
Since the Zapatista uprising many people are discovering their indigenous
roots, they are struggling with pride. Both the Huicholes and Nahuas have
been quiet for a long time and there is still a lot of confusion in the villages.
Many still believe in the propaganda of the IN. They still believe it offers
something for the people.
The groups discussed the idea of creating information "nodes" across the country
that would operate as community-based information centres to pass on the information
discussed in the forums. There was concern about distances and remaining in contact and
there was a proposal to initiate a computer project to link the offices via the Internet.
In this meeting the Zapatista movement was operating on another level. It was
different from the imagery-laden encounter, instead focusing on building ties and carrying
out grassroots organizational work. The theme of the meeting was estamos pasando ya a
los hechos (we are now moving on to action).
Relations with the Media: The War of Words
The Zapatistas have also used communications and spectacle as an important
strategy for staying in the public mind and using symbolic discourses to show the
contradictions within the government's position and to publicize their agenda. The main
media for this strategy have been the communiquCs put out by the movement's eloquent
non-Indian figurehead, Subcomandante Marcos. Le Bot states that Subcomandante
Marcos's communiquCs serve as a mirror to the rest of Mexican society and the world.
They provoke deep reactions as people look inward and judge themselves. In the post-Cold
War era, Subcomandante Marcos learned that symbols and communication were weapons
more powerful than conventional arms. Regis Debray has called him the best writer in Latin
America and Octavio Paz, despite having opposite political views, has praised some of
Marcos's cornrnuniquCs, calling them moving.
The following quotation is from a personal letter to Gaspar Morquecho, the director
of Chiltak and a reporter for the San Crist6bal newspaper El Tiempo,from Subcomandante
Marcos. The letter was published in La JomadQ on February 7, 1994, and came in the
context of accusations against the NGO community and opposition press of being Zapatista
members:
When the police and inquisitors come to intimidate you, tell them the truth,
Mr. Morquecho. Tell them that you simply raised your voice to warn
everyone that if changes were not made in the unjust relations of daily
oppression, the Indians were going to rise up [...I Tell them that you, with
other honest professionals [...I searched for support wherever it was in
order to force economic, educational, and cultural projects that would
relieve the death that was being sewn in the indigenous communities. Tell
them the truth, Mr. Morquecho. Tell them you searched for a peaceful, just,
dignified and true way. Tell them the truth, Mr. Morquecho. But please,
Mr. Morquecho, don't tell them that which you and I know happened, don't
tell them that which wants to leave your lips when you talk and hands when
you write, don't tell them the thought that keeps growing, first in the breast,
and keeps on rising gradually to the head as soon as the year passes and
advances its pace through mountains and ravines, don't tell them what you
now want to shout: "I am not a Zapatista! But after this first of January... I
would like to be one!"
Government Response: Low Intensity Warfare
Since the February 1995 offensive, the government has contained the conflict zone in
eastern Chiapas through a steady build-up of troops. Communities have had to become
accustomed to living with a "permanent" presence of soldiers. The soldiers enter the
communities, threaten campesino farmers and harass women when they leave the villages
to wash clothes, collect water and cut firewood. Recently, tracking dogs have been brought
to the military base in Guadalupe Tepeyac, just one hour from La Realidad where important
EZLN commanders are based, including Marcos (LuJornada p. 4 January 25, 1997).
The presence of thousands of soldiers has brought inflation of prices for basic
necessities such as soap, sugar, salt, oil, etc. Because of the poor roads there is only a
limited supply of these goods and the growing demand brought by the military presence
has pushed prices well beyond those in the cities. This inflation has been accompanied by a
decrease in production, meaning that people are suffering from conditions of extreme
poverty. In some cases young indigenous women have been forced out of necessity to
work as prostitutes for the federal soldiers. They also offer their labour washing soldier's
uniforms and making tortillas. While this may provide the women with a small income, it
carries with it a stigma so that they are shunned by their communities for cooperating with
the enemy.
The military also uses campesinos as informants to learn about the local political
dynamics. The army supports pro-government factions in the region, capitalizing on
political differences to create divisions, so that in some communities one side no longer
talks to the other. Through rumor mongering and demonizing the opposition, the
government sharpens divisions, creating conditions for intra-community violence. This
strategy has been employed particularly in the northern Chol-speaking zone of Chiapas,
principally in the municipalities of Sabanilla, Tila, Tumbalii and Salto de Agua. The war on
the surface appears to be a local conflict between pro-government campesino groups and
opposition groups. Campesinos are taking over lands and municipal halls in post-electoral
disputes. In response, paramilitary groups attack and assassinate members of opposition
groups and violently evict communities that oppose the government.
There are several reasons why this region is receiving special attention from the
government. In the recent construction of a fifth "New Aguascalientes" site in Roberto
Barrios, Palenque, campesinos from throughout the northern zone took part in voluntary
work crews. During the inauguration, these campesinos showed their sympathy with the
EZLN by taking part in the celebrations. They hung banners denouncing the lack of
solutions to the problems in Tila. Sympathy for the EZLN was seen in the indigenous
groups that took over the municipal hall in Sabanilla and thousands that participated in a
march for peace when Cuautehrnoc Ciirdenas visited Tila in 19%. In response, the military
has incorporated the Northern Zone into its counter-insurgency war. There is a concerted
and deliberate program to stop the spread of Zapatismo in the northern region of Chiapas.
What appears to be a local conflict is then really the continuation of the war between the
government and the EZLN brought down to the fundamental level. PFU politicians and
elements of the military offer campesinos arms, training and organization. The appearance
of the paramilitary group Pa: y Justicia in 1995 is the government's weapon against
E
growing sympathy for the Zapatista Army. Bishop Samuel Ruiz condemned this as a
strategy for creating a state of ungovernability so that the government has a pretext to
justify its increased militarization of the region.
The government agreed to limit its troops in the conflict zone as part of the Law for
Peace and Reconciliation under which the dialogues are regulated. Article 129 of the
Federal Constitution also prohibits soldiers from patrolling outside their bases in times of
peace. The military, however, uses pretexts such as the war against drug trafficking to put
military bases where it wants. The Zapatistas have received thousands of campesino
sympathizers since the initial uprising. Many of these new support bases exist outside the
region denominated as the conflict zone and are part of the political strategy defined by the
EZLN as "rompiendo el cerco" or breaking out of the military encirclement. The northern
zone of Chiapas is thus part of the same conflict. The military is using the same strategies
of low-intensity conflict to undermine support for the Zapatista movement. Recent human
rights reports by the Coordination of Non-governmental Organizations for Peace
(CONPAZ) and the Fray BartolomC Human Rights Centre show that since the 1994
uprising, levels of militarization have increased alarmingly.
On a special human rights brigade organized in June 19%, participants from
national and international human rights groups took a tour of the most conflict-torn regions
in Chiapas. In community after community campesinos denounced the military presence.
Later, in November 19%, increased repression hit the NGO community in San Crist6bal
with a wave of firebombings, telephone death threats and the kidnapping of CONPAZ's
accountant and his family. They were held for 48 hours and physically and psychologically
tortured before being released.
This is part of the government's two-faced approach to the EZLN uprising.
Government representatives talk of peace and their willingness to seek solutions to the
socio-economic demands that gave rise to the EZLN. Yet, at the same time, the military
continues to carry out acts of violence to contain the EZLN's attempt to win over civil
society. While the EZLN has respected the cease-fire and sought to promote a peaceful
strategy of cultural resistance, the government has responded with repression on all levels.
Constructing Zapatismo:
Master Protest Frames
"Zapatismois not an ideology but instead an imaginative
andpoetic project in constant construction."
(Crhicas IntergalActicas, 19%, p. 138)
In this chapter I introduce the concept of "framing" to an analysis of the EZLN.Framing is
a concept used in social movement theorizing by David Snow, defined as "conscious
strategic efforts by groups of people to fashion shared understandings of the world and of
themselves that legitimate and motivate collective action" (cited in McAdam et a1 19%: 6).
As the title of this chapter suggests, I wish to examine how the movement's guiding ideas
were constructed by its use of protest frames. In other words, how the movement
employed widely recognized cultural images of struggle in its fight for social change. In
this way the movement became 'something for everyone,' by appealing to a diverse array
of points of struggle.
In Chapter 3, I discussed the regional activist subcultures that served as precursors
to the formation of the EZLN, including emerging democratic practices in peasant
movements. External activists from the church and peasant and political organizations both
influenced and were shaped by their organizing experiences in rural Chiapas through
dialogical relationships with Indian communities. In Chapter 4, I showed how the EZLN
created a broad-based "Zapatista movement" that united diverse positions of struggle after
the 1994 uprising. This chapter explores the broader ideational frameworks employed by
the EZLN in the creation of the movement culture called Zapatismo. The EZLN revived
historical struggles, making them relevant again under new conditions. Moreover, in its
expression as a social movement, the EZLN adapted highly resonant cultural traditions of
struggle to the creation of its own social movement culture.
Before discussing the master protest frames adapted by the EZLN, I will first
discuss the political-historicaljuncture in which they emerged.
New Times
The EZLN made its first public appearance at a time when the left was widely proclaimed to
be in deep crisis. In 1994, one author described philosophies of the left as "a soul of
values, emotions and traditions that is now wandering restlessly in search of new bodies,
new forms and structures" (Mulgan 1994: 2). In the wake of the collapse of communism in
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union many declared the capitalist free market as the winner
and ideas of the left were considered history. Western Marxists criticized this claim,
arguing that communism never really existed and called for democratic socialism. Both
interpretations seemed to over-simplify the significance of the left's decline. Clearly, the
left continued to be relevant yet it would not be business as usual. The dramatic events that
occurred in the Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union put in motion a search for new alternatives.
Many analysts while recognizing the importance of the left in the reconstruction of Western
capitalist societies and the "third world," called for a fundamental transformation of its
values and strategies (Derber et a1 1994, Castaiieda 1993).
For people who had identified with the left, the EZLN represented a new
experiment, a step forward, an alternative. The EZLN has offered itself as a body for the
soul of the left that was wandering after the events of the late 1980s. One of the most
important aspects of the EZLN's 1994 emergence was its success in connecting its struggle
to other struggles occurring throughout the world. The EZLN framed its struggle as one
that incorporated diverse movements for change and successfully attracted world-wide
attention to itself for doing so. Not only did it adopt struggles that were very current such
as women's rights, environmental issues, human rights and Indian resistance, it also
managed to revive long-standing traditions of struggle. The EZLN names itself after
Emiliano Zapata, the hero of the Mexican revolution and an important icon for the
legitimation of the state. The EZLN also declared itself an army of national liberation in the
tradition of Latin American guerrilla struggle epitomized by the Cuban revolution and the
image of Che Guevara. This was at a time when Central American guerrilla armies had
already opted for negotiation over armed struggle. The EZLN's strategy successfully
adapted these popular Latin American images to the context of a new revolutionary 1990s
struggle.
The Zapatistas used "master protest frames" to unite individuals with the social
movement surrounding the demands of the EZLN. This process described by Snow and
Bedford (1988) as "frame alignment" has the task of both legitimating and motivating
protest activity. Frameworks with a high degree of cultural resonance are most likely to
garner widespread support (McAdam 1994: 37). The EZLN's use of the frames described
above has been successful both in tapping into struggles that are currently part of the
popular imaginary and by appropriating long-standing cultural symbols of resistance,
making them relevant in the cultural context of the 1990s. This allowed the movement to
employ popular ideational strains, both in mainstream society and within particular
subcultures as a means of galvanizing activism.
After more than three years of Zapatista expressions, the movement also
successfully created an international following that gave body to the wandering soul of the
left. This was most important in demonstrating that the struggle of the Indians of Chiapas
against globalization and neoliberalism was the same struggle being fought throughout the
world. Neoliberalism in Latin America has been called neo-conservatism in Canada,
Reaganism in the United States; it is also termed structural adjustment, corporate downsizing and the "Washington consensus." In a recent book by Jeremy Brecher and Tim
Costello (1994),two labour intellectuals, they see the Zapatista uprising as one point on a
diverse matrix of local struggles against globalization. By internationalizing its struggle the
EZLN is at the forefront of a new "globalization-from-below."
During the first few days of the EZLN's uprising, many authors looked critically
upon the uprising as an anachronistic throwback to the early 1980s. In light of the Central
American peace process, the option of armed struggle appeared out of place and doomed to
failure. But the EZLN would not be the "last Central American revolution."
Subcomandante Marcos wrote on January 13, 1994, referring to the massive presence of
the Mexican armed forces, "They forget that war is not a matter of weapons or a large
number of armed men, but of politics." After the cease-fire, the Zapatista strategy began to
adapt to the new conditions. When Marcos was asked whether the EZLN had failed in the
uprising by not making it to Mexico City, he said: "Weren't we there already by January
2nd? We were everywhere, on the lips of everyone--in the subway, on the radio. And our
flag was in the B c a l o [central plaza]" (Guillerrnoprieto 1995:41).
By January 20th the EZLN discourse was evolving into one that matched its
circumstances. It directly addressed other independent organizations in civil society,
assuring them of the importance of diverse voices and that the EZLN would accept all
forms of struggle:
Our form of struggle is not the only one. Perhaps it may not even be an
adequate one. There are many other valuable forms of struggle. Our
organization is not unique; for many it may not even be a desirable one.
There are other honest, progressive, independent organizations of great
value. The EZLN has never pretended that our way of struggle is the only
legitimate one. In fact, it is the only one we have been left with. The EZLN
welcomes the honest and consistent development of all forms of struggle
that take us along the path of freedom, democracy, and justice. The EZLN
has never pretended to be the only true, honest, and revolutionary
organization in Mexico or Chiapas. (Autonomedia 1994. 11 1)
It was this humility that helped the EZLN capture the nation's attention by setting it
apart from the vanguardist rhetoric of traditional Marxist-oriented guemlla armies. In this
way the EZLN7sdiscourse had a distinctly postmodernist strain. It was not claiming to be
the privileged holder of the "Truth" but instead was asking to be listened to and was willing
to accept all struggles as equally legitimate as its own.
In the following sections, I examine six ideational streams that have been adapted
by the EZLN as master protest frames in the construction of Zapatismo: campesino
struggle, Indian resistance, national liberation through armed struggle, women's rights and
environmental issues and the human rights movement. These last two issues have not
appeared as much in the EZLN's public statements and expressions, but are important
elements in the production of Zapatismo. The final section presents the EZLN as a leading
proponent of a new internationalism against neoliberalism and globalization.
Erniliano Zapata and Peasant Struggle
The uprising took the name of Emiliano Zapata, reclaiming the long tradition of 20th
century campesino struggle in Mexico that came out of the Revolution (1910-1920). The
Constitution of 1917 protected under law the communal lands known in Mexico as ejidos.
The right to land for the campesino subsistence farmer became a part of Mexico's
revolutionary heritage. Comandante David spoke of the importance of Emiliano Zapata to
the EZLN's struggle:
Emiliano Zapata represents our symbolic leader. He was a great man who
was a carnpesino and a Mexican who fought in his time for the good of the
campesinos. He fought for land and freedom for the campesinos and most
importantly for the indigenous people. The majority of the people who
fought under Zapata were indigenous people and Zapata put out his heart
and eventually his life for the indigenous people. For this reason he
represents someone very important for us, that is why we took his name.
We see ourselves as Zapata's followers and his children. He represents to
us the most important person of consequence in Mexico's history. Just as
we say in our slogan "Zapata Lives." For, yes, he still lives, he lives with
us, and if they kill us he will continue to live because there will always be
more Zapatistas. If they kill some, more will rise up; if they kill many, new
ones will be born. The Zapatistas will not disappear. So he is very
important to us, we carry his name and his ideas. The Zapatistas of today
have taken his ideas and even added more. He fought for land and freedom.
We want land and freedom too but beyond that we are also fighting for
democracy and for justice for everyone. Our form of Zapatismo has now
become much broader than the original version. Our proposals are not just
for the indigenous people but for all of Mexico and for the rest of the
countries of the world. Who does not want democracy? Every country in
the world wants to see a true democracy. Every country also wants to see
freedom and justice, so what we are proposing is very wide sweeping. So,
yes, the figure of Zapata is always present and very important to us.
(interview with author March 1996).
At the Oventic Aguascalientes site on April 10, 19%, the date that commemorates
the assassination of Emiliano Zapata, during the opening ceremonies of the National
Permanent Indigenous Forum, an EZLN representative made the following speech:
They thought they killed Emiliano Zapata but they were wrong. The
Zapatistas continue. They will never be able to kill all of us because we are
thousands and we exist in all parts and sectors of the country. It is
impossible to kill revolutionary ideas.
The EZLN Revolutionary Agrarian Law states:
The poor campesinos' movement in Mexico demands the return of the land
to those who work it and in the tradition of Emiliano Zapata and in
opposition to the reforms to Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, the
EZLN again takes up the just struggle of rural Mexico for land and freedom.
(Autonomedia 1994: 55)
The use of the symbol of Zapata is important because it is an image that has been
used to give legitimacy to the ruling PRI. Each year the president pays his respect to Zapata
to commemorate his death. Former President Carlos Salinas even named his son Emiliano
in honour of the Mexican hero. The EZLN is appropriating this symbol and giving it a
radical reinterpretation, framing its struggle within a national discourse that all Mexicans
can relate to. In this way the EZLN opens new terrain on the symbolic level, battling over
the role of the true heirs of Zapata.
Indigenous Resistance
Indians in Mexico have been working together as a national force demanding indigenous
rights since the 1940s. In 1974, an important conference took place in Chiapas uniting
indigenous groups across ethnic lines. In 1992 a march of thousands of indigenous
participants took place in San Cristbbal. Being predominately indigenous, the EZLN was a
continuation of this movement. The importance of ethnicity to the movement was seen in
the National Indigenous Forum it sponsored in San Cristbbal in January 19% and by the
fact that Indigenous Rights and Culture was the first item on the negotiating table between
the government and the EZLN during the peace talks.
The roots of the Zapatista uprising can be clearly found in the crisis in subsistence
agriculture and by the state's abandonment of small farmers involved in export production
such as coffee (Harvey 1994, 19%). Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that the
position of the small farmer in Chiapas within the global economy has profound effects on
culture. The EZLN's first demands were centred on material living conditions yet, at the
same time, the movement framed the uprising as a "product of 500 years of struggle". This
helped to empower and mobilize Indians across Mexico. As George Collier (1994)
emphasized in his book, land issues were central to understanding the uprising. Land is
important as a means of subsistence and as a historical-cultural space for Indian
communities. For many highland communities in Chiapas, the geographic setting tells a
story that has been maintained over generations. Thus the threat that these communities
were experiencing was not just one of subsistence but of a way of life and the issue of who
would control the destiny of a culture.
Mexico's growing Indian movement was empowered by the Zapatista uprising and
mobilized into a national movement at an unprecedented rate. The resurgence of ethnic
identity as a space for political mobilization became more relevant after the Zapatista
uprising implanted political and cultural rights as a fundamental part of the Indian's
struggle. In 1995 the EZLN introduced the topic of ethnic identity to the talks with
government negotiators. EZLN negotiators criticized the government's condescending
attitude and language. The EZLN made it clear that they would only continue negotiating if
the government showed respect for indigenous culture. In fact when the EZLN suspended
the peace talks in September 1996, one of the reasons was the lack of respect shown by the
government for indigenous practices. In January 19% the EZLN convoked a National
Indigenous Forum. Ethno-historian Jan De Vos described the forum as follows:
This is the first national forum of its type for the indigenous people in
Mexico. It has been an excellent way to demonstrate to the government that
the indigenous people in Chiapas are not just making local demands. Their
demands are being echoed here by a large number of indigenous cultures
and organizations from across the country [...I The forum will demonstrate
the national character of indigenous demands. (interview with author
January 1996)
Thirty-five different Indian nations from across Mexico took part in the forum
discussing shared experiences and problems from January 3 to 8, 1996. A final document
was produced which then became the basis for agreements on Indigenous Rights and
Culture signed by the government and the EZLN in February 1996.
The conference created a permanent forum on Indigenous Rights and Culture that
met two more times in Oventic, Chiapas. This forum planned the creation of the National
Indigenous Council that met in Mexico City and was attended by Comandante Ramona for
the EZLN in October 19%. Since then the council has played an important role as a
sounding board criticizing the government's failure to move forward in putting the San
Andres Accords into practice.
In Mexico, the central ideology mediating the state's relationship with indigenous
peoples has been indigenismo.The post-revolutionary mythology has been the glorification
of the Indian heritage but the present day Indian culture has been put to the side. As one
person put it, "Everybody exalts the Mayan ruins but nobody is interested in the ruined
Mayas." On one hand indigenismo sought to promote increased production and better
services in Indian communities, yet on the other it was part of a broader modernizing policy
that saw Indian cultures as obstacles to development. Thus, the policies promoted
acculturation and integration of Indian communities into the national and global economy.
The INI (National Indigenous Institute) was the government's administrative instrument for
carrying out its policies in Indian communities. By the 1980s, little advancement had been
made and many communities were expressing the demand for plurality. The goal of
assimilation went by the wayside (Barry 1995: 177-8).
Article 4 of the constitution was changed in 1992, recognizing the rights of Indians
3
to practice their customs and traditions. Mexico was recognized as a pluri-cultural nation
and indigenous culture was to be put on equal grounding with mestizo culture. The realm
of culture has been an area of antagonism to which the EZLN has responded. In one
document that came out of the National Indigenous Forum a list of violations against
indigenous culture was compiled representing diverse urban and rural regions. Mexico's
diverse Indian nations are thus increasingly uniting under a common banner and identifying
with the struggle of the EZLN and other groups in resistance throughout the Americas.
National Liberation Movements
The EZLN is a "National Liberation Army," putting it in the same category as Latin
American guerrilla movements given their impulse by the Cuban Revolution and the
struggles of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The EZLN uses the symbols of revolutionary
struggle in Latin America: a black flag with a red star and the icon of Che Guevara. There is
also a long history of Mexican guemlla struggle. Carlos Montemayor, who has followed
the trajectory of armed movements in Mexico since the 1%0s, wrote: "the country has
experienced, perhaps without the majority of Mexicans knowing it, an almost uninterrupted
guemlla struggle over a period of at least 30 years" (19%: 15).
The Zapatistas were also influenced by guemlla struggle in Nicaragua, El Salvador
and Guatemala. They demonstrated a familiarity with the Central American peace process.
Comandante David said:
When the EZLN was born we didn't think that in such a short time we
would be seated at a table, talking with the federal government. We saw
that, from the experience of other countries, it took many years of struggle
before they were able to sit at the negotiating table with the government. We
were clear that the struggle was going to be long and difficult and that it
wasn't going to end soon. (press conference June 1995)
When asked about what the EZLN would do to avoid what happened in El
Salvador, where the rebel forces put down their arms after the accords were signed, but
before any real changes were made, Comandante Tacho replied:
We have been trying to bring in other sectors of Mexican society to
participate at the dialogue table [...I in this way the government's
commitment to make real change will be in the presence of many citizens.
We are not trying to achieve just a nice package of documents, but instead
real change. For example, if we talk about health issues, we want to really
see the health care system improve. We don't want documents, we want
real actions. For this reason, we ask that the changes that must be made in
Mexico and Chiapas come from the roots. It is true that the dialogue is
taking a long time, there are proposals that we have put forward that haven't
been responded to by the government. The amount of time this takes is not
the most important thing to us, more important is a change from the roots,
from the very bottom, to resolve the proposals we have made to the
government. (press conference June 1995)
The Women's Struggle
The struggle for women's rights has been present in the EZLN discourse from the moment
it made its declaration of war. Estimates of the number of women participating in the EZLN
were as high as one-third, and as the movement began its public life, women often
occupied leadership positions. Comandante Ramona was an important symbol as a woman
wearing the traditional dress of San Andrks Larrainzar. Later, Comandante Trini an elderly
Indian woman with long gray braids attended the first San Andrks talks. These women
were not only important as symbols of Indian women participating directly with the
government. By tapping into the discourse of women's struggles, the uprising sparked the
imagination of women's rights advocates all over the world. Women have participated in
guerrilla struggles throughout Latin America, yet there has been criticism of the lack of
women's participation in leadership positions. For example, the Sandinistas were criticized
for never having a woman representative on the National Directorate. In the case of the
EZLN, Comandante Hortencia recognized:
We hold many positions within the EZLN. We hold positions as local and
regional coordinators, as well as representation on the Clandestine
Revolutionary Indigenous Committee. So we play a very important role in
the organization although we are still lacking many things that we haven't
been able to achieve. (interview with author May 1 W )
As much as one-third of the EZLN is made up of women. Hundreds of Indian
women took part in the uprising, and several women have participated as EZLN
negotiators. In the documents that were included in the declaration of war issued on
January 1, 1994, there were a series of revolutionary laws. One section dealt exclusively
with women:
1) Women, regardless of their race, creed, colour or political affiliation,
have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in a way
determined by their desire and capacity.
2) Women have the right to work and receive a just salary.
3) Women have the right to decide the number of children they will have
and care for in a family.
4) Women have the right to participate in the affairs of the community and
hold positions of authority if they are freely and democratically elected.
5) Women and their children have the right to primary attention in matters of
health and nutrition.
6) Women have the right to education.
7) Women have the right to choose their partner, and are not to be forced
into marriage.
8) Women shall not be beaten or physically mistreated by their family
members or by strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely
punished.
9) Women will be able to occupy positions of leadership in the organization
and hold military ranks in the revolutionary armed forces.
10) Women will have all the rights and obligations elaborated in the
Revolutionary Laws and Regulations. (Autonomedia 1994.52-3)
More than three years after the Zapatista uprising the laws remain more of a goal
than a living reality. Since January 1994, however, much organizing has taken place
around women's issues. The EZLN has convoked discussion tables on women's issues in
the context of democratization and indigenous rights and culture. In these discussions,
women have discussed new forms of participation, health issues and the tension between
traditional culture and individual rights as women.
Yet in the zones dominated by EZLN support communities there is still a clearly
dominating patriarchal ideology. While the image of Comandante Ana Maria reading the
Fourth Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle in the midst of the wind and cold of Oventic
is powerful, it does not compensate for the fact that spokespeople for the EZLN are almost
always men. Women representatives will usually only address issues dealing specifically
with gender. Often when asked more general questions they refer the interviewer to the
male comandante.
International Women's Day March 8, 19% was an important watershed for EZLN
women. Comandante Susana explained why more than the 8,000 mostly Indian women
marched in San Crist6bal:
We, the women of the communities, don't want the Mexican soldiers in our
villages. That is why we went on March 8th to tell the government to get rid
of its army from our communities. The tanks and guns cause fear among the
women. So, on March 8th we went to shout at the government that the
military is frightening us and our children, we want to be free to go where
we like. With the presence of the federal soldiers we are restricted. It's very
difficult to go out anywhere. That's why we organized the march, to
demonstrate the force and the strength of women, to shout and speak about
our rights. (interview with author March 1996)
Comandante Hortencia gives a sense of how life changed within the communities
for Zapatistas and what challenges remain:
Since January 1, 1994, things have changed. Women realized that they
were capable of participating in the political struggle,just like the men. This
opened our eyes and we began to see just how difficult the path was [....I
Before, we were never recognized. We never went to meetings and we
never participated. We couldn't do anything. Now, however, there are
compafieras, women Zapatistas, who have positions of authority and rank.
We participate in meetings and speak, but not as much as we should. There
are still many women who don't understand the meetings I....]
Also, there
are men who won't let their wives participate. There are many reasons for
this. The man says, 'No I will not let you go because I am the man and your
work is to be in the house taking care of the children.' Some men still speak
like this, there are women who cannot participate because it makes their
husband angry. We realize that this is not correct and that we must continue
to fight and defend our rights. If we don't defend our rights nothing will
change and those men will continue to act as they do. (interview with author
March 19%)
Comandante David also expressed concern for the lack of women's advancement and his
hope for change:
The problems faced by women in the communities is something very
serious. It is a challenge but we truly believe that it is possible to increase
women's participation. Nevertheless, it still requires a lot more work. 1'11 be
sincere in telling you that we have not achieved what we would like. We
have women in the leadership but many others have not felt encouraged.
But we are trying to encourage them especially with the work of the women
that are already part of the leadership. We are trying to support them and do
everything to encourage their advancement.
Throughout history women have been brought up to think that they must be
submissive, that they must just obey the men and the authorities without a
word or any opinion. It has been very hard for women to overcome this.
They have said, 'I can't change, I don't want to.' There are many
justifications, but little by little it is necessary to change this way of thinking
so that they can see that it is necessary to change so that they know that as
women they can do many things. They can do everything a man can do. We
do understand that many women are physically weaker than men, but we
have also seen that they can perform equally with men. This was
demonstrated by the women combatants. (interview with author March
19%)
The women's revolutionary laws also inspired organized women throughout
Chiapas and Mexico. Of particular importance to Indian women was the change made to
Article 4. In this case Indian customs and traditions were preserved and Mexico was
recognized as a pluri-ethnic nation. For women in the Indian communities this presented a
point of contention. In cultures where women are "traditionally" relegated to the home and
do not have the right to participate in traditional positions of authority, the entrenchment of
indigenous customs and traditions is exclusive. Women are demanding that in this case
their individual rights should be above the community or collective rights.
The Environment and Human Rights
Environmental activism and human rights issues are master protest frames that cross
borders and have a high degree of cultural resonance internationally. The EZLN included
ecological demands in its declaration of war. There was specific mention of forest
conservation in Article 13of the Revolutionary Agrarian Laws: "Zones of virgin jungle and
forest will be preserved. There will be reforestation campaigns in principal zones"
(Autonomedia 1994: 56).
When I asked Comandante Salvador in the community of Roberto Bamos,
municipality of Palenque, to explain to me the importance of the conservation of forests to
the EZLN, he told me:
.We have always tried to conserve and take care of the land because it is our
mother. We are farmers and we know how to respect the land. But what
happens is that the companies and the wood buyers amve and they begin to
cut down the forest and sometimes out of necessity campesinos sell wood to
them. The forests and nature are being destroyed. Thousands of metres of
wood have been taken from here and all of it leaves the region. Nothing
remains here and we become poorer and poorer. We do know how to
respect nature and the forests, but at times because of necessity we are
forced to sell wood for miserable prices. (interview with author May 19%)
In addition to ecological concerns, a grassroots human rights movement exploded
in Chiapas as a direct byproduct of the EZLN uprising. Both national and international
groups have flourished and have been present monitoring the situation since the uprising.
Americas Watch and Amnesty International have followed the events in Chiapas and
virtually every NGO in San Cristdbal created a human rights section to give workshops in
rural communities. The diocese of San Cristdbal has been one of the most important
advocates, actively involved in defending and promoting human rights in the communities.
More importantly this work is increasingly being put into the hands of the Indian peasants
themselves as new committees have been formed with indigenous human rights
"promoters" working at the community level, teaching about law and human rights and
taking testimonies of abuses in order to make denunciations.
Highly organized communities like Roberto Barrios now make their own
denunciations and send them to local and international human rights groups in Chiapas.
The following is an excerpt from a communiquC sent to the office of Global Exchange by
the human rights committee of the community Roberto Bamos:
We denounce the perpetual harassment and intimidation that the federal
army is forcing us to live with since we constructed an Aguascalientes
[center of political and cultural resistance] on December 12, 1995. Some of
this harassment has already been denounced, without results, since the
federal army continues violating the norms of the community and is
contaminating the river that is on ejido property. From the river we have
collected military clothing, dead dogs, food scraps, soft drink cans, etc.
Soldiers also bring prostitutes to bathe in the waterfalls and use the area
around the waterfalls for military training as if the ejido lands were their
own. (March 3 1, 1997)
The moral and political framing of human rights bring nations to account when state
authorities become identified as violators. This fundamentally alters the relationship
between the state and the citizen. Indian peasants in Chiapas are increasingly experiencing
the transnationalization of their concerns as they link their struggles to international human
rights and environmental networks. According to Michael Kearney (19%: 183) these
networks exist "largely outside the confines of nation-states and [have] political goals that
are in part beyond the economic, political and cultural hegemony of nation-states". Kearney
further argues that, in the Mixtec communities he has studied, environmental concerns and
human rights "are growing and merging [...I such that to a considerable extent the former
centrality of the agrarian and proletarian issues has been folded into a new politics of
human rights and environmentalism" (19%:
183).
The EZLN has embraced the growing concern for human rights particularly as its
supporters have been the victims of intimidation, torture, disappearances, and
assassinations. Community members throughout the conflict zone and other regions of
strong EZLN support are increasingly being trained to understand their rights in relation to
international human rights law. Spanish journalist Guiomar Rovira interviewed women
attending a human rights workshop in a community in the Lacandon jungle. Some of the
women did not speak Spanish and most of them could not read or write, having no
experience with formal education. They ranged in age from 14 to 24 years old. Many had
travelled for several hours to get to the community and they all came with interest in taking
a course on human rights, even though some did not even understand what the words
meant (Rovira 19%.243).
My meetings with representatives from indigenous communities while leading
human rights delegations throughout Chiapas confirmed Kearney's observations of the
Mixtec people (Kearney 1996). Indian and peasant organizations across Chiapas
increasingly framed their grievances within the discourse of human rights. The reasons
were obvious given that these once isolated communities were living in the midst of a
massive presence of the Mexican armed forces. I heard testimonies regarding threats,
intimidationand violence committed by soldiers, police and paramilitary groups that enjoy
impunity. These denunciations came from Indian peasants organized in artisan
cooperatives, independent peasant organizationsand EZLN communities in resistance.
The EZLN and a New Internationalism
The discourse of internationalism as a master protest frame has been a growing
theme in Zapatista expressions. In its declaration of war the EZLN made no references to
extending its struggle beyond the borders of Mexico, although the rebels did mention
NAFTA as an instigating factor. The EZLN has, nevertheless, become more and more
sophisticated in its framing of the global forces that affect Indians in Chiapas. In a press
conference during the peace talks in San Andrks Larrainzar in 1995, Comandante Tacho
made this comment about the EZLN's relation with "the rest of the world":
The relationship between the Zapatista struggle and the rest of the world is
very important because in other countries they also haven't been able to
rescue the dignity of indigenous and non-indigenous people and above all of
the most poor and those most isolated from possibilities. For this reason,
we believe that the Zapatista struggle should include other international
countries that are poor and that suffer misery and contempt. In many other
countries people suffer racism and there is no freedom, justice or
democracy. Therefore, we believe there is an important connection between
the Zapatista struggle in Mexico and other countries of the world. (press
conference June 1995)
The EZLN began building on this theme and included the opinions of international
participants in the "Grand National Consultation" survey held at the end of August
regarding the direction of the EZLN. Over 20,000 intemational participants answered the
survey ballots. By 19% the EZLN was hosting international conferences to discuss
different experiences of living under neoliberalism. There was also a sophistication of the
movement's analysis of larger global forces. Comandante David said in the inaugural
speech of the Intercontinental Encounter in Oventic, San Andks Larrainzar:
and more than ever
Poverty, hunger and misery reigns in our villages I....]
with the new neoliberal project, which is a project of destruction and death
for the poor of the world. Because with this project they will try to finish
destroying and sacking the wealth from our peoples. (Cr6nicas
Intergalicticas 19%: 16)
Comandante Ana Maria told the crowd:
Within what is know as "neoliberalism," we do not count, we do not
produce, we do not compare, we could not be sold. We are an insignificant
number in the bank account of grand capital. (Cr6nicas Intergalicticas 19%.
23)
The Zapatista movement has captured the support and sympathy of broad sectors of
international civil society. For many, neo-Zapatismo has become a new ideology for a left
that was at a crossroads looking for direction. The strategy of the EZLN responds to
criticisms of socialism as it existed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and to the
shortcomings of the revolutionary and populist left in Latin America. The concept of "rule
by obeying" and organizing horizontally by listening instead of "preaching the truth" has
had wide appeal. This has been the format of the forums and encounters that the EZLN has
held with citizens and organizations of national and international civil society. In this
context, the E
N uprising symbolized a new hope for a fledgling left, inspiring economist
Harry Cleaver to write, "The time of the revolution has not passed" (Autonomedia 1994:
11).
The movement has expanded its appeal to non-Indian and international citizens and
organizations of civil society by proposing various initiatives for the creation of a broadbased social movement in support of its demands. At the Intercontinental Encounter in July
19% participants from across all continents called for the creation of a "big new world
identity against neoliberalism and for humanity." At the table on Identity and Diversity in
La Garrucha, Ocosingo the participants proclaimed: "If in this world there is room for
many worlds, then in this Zapatista identity there is room for many identities, hopes and
destinies" (Chnicas Intergaliicticas 19%).
The Zapatistas have expanded their movement to the international level to include
broad multi-class and multi-national movements that oppose globalization from different
subject positions. In this sense the movement's discourse coincides with post-Marxist
theorizing that seeks to move beyond economic reductionism by including the cultural
sphere and broad points of struggle. The EZLN is attempting a strategy that remains open
and tolerant so that, as Laclau and Mouffe (1985: 3 1) write, "the proliferation of points of
antagonism permits the multiplication of democratic struggles." Instead of attempting to
unify diverse forms of protest within a single ideological framework, the EZLN remains
inclusive so that all antagonism to unified global power can fit within the category of
Zapatismo.
It has been this way of thinking that has captured support and sympathy from
people throughout Latin America, Europe and North America. Students from Argentina,
squatters from Barcelona, anarchists from Italy and France, U.S. human rights activists,
Turkish opposition leaders, Canadian church workers, and Basque and Quebecois
nationalists all identify with the discourse of the Zapatista movement. The recent meeting of
the Second Intercontinental Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism held in July
19!27, attended by representatives from the EZLN and hundreds of participant from dozens
of nationalities, shows that the movement has continued its momentum outside the borders
of Mexico. During August 1997 a ChicanoIEZLN cultural encounter was held in Oventic,
San And& Larrainzar. The Third Intercontinental Encounter is scheduled for Brazil in
1998.
Conclusions: Bringing
in Culture
"Construiremosun mundo don& quepan rnuchos mundos "
Subcomandante Marcos
The introductory chapter outlined the reactions that the Zapatista uprising generated
throughout Chiapas, Mexico and the world. In this chapter I wish to make some
assessments of the EZLN's successes and failures in its cultural action and some general
conclusion regarding what has been presented in the preceding chapters.
Zapatismo has presented itself as an alternative for the left. The idea of a frente
amplio opositor (broad opposition front) is similar to Laclau and Mouffe's (1985)
conception of radical democracy and multiple points of antagonism. The EZLN is
attempting to unite a proliferation of new social agents by creating new political spaces for
struggle. Zapatismo provides an identity and reference point for a social energy that
searches for channels of expression to construct a new order (Hernindez, La Jornada
December 19,1995). The EZLN can do this because it was not born solely from economic
conditions and ideology, but also from an expanding identity as political subjects. The
importance of respecting others' points of views and including them in a broader project is
an important element of Zapatismo.
As 1 have outlined in this thesis, the EZLN does not want to "turn the tables" by
offering another project which would put them at the top and exclude others. Its motto is
"Everything for Everyone." While there have always been tensions between local level
demands and the national level, the EZLN recognizes that local problems will not be solved
until there is a broader national democratization that permits local groups to be heard and
gives them the power and capacity to solve their problems. The EZLN serves as the hard
line; a launching pad for a proliferation of struggles; a tool to be used by others within civil
society to make real changes.
In addition to the EZLN's use of popular master protest frames, there are many
other aspects of Zapatismo that make it unique. Todo para todos, mandcrr obedeciendo,
these are slogans that also incorporate elements of postmodernism: the idea of creating new
spaces outside of politics instead of simply seeking inclusion. Also there is a recognition of
Foucault's principle that power exists on the micro-level and must be resisted and
confronted at all levels. Foucault believed that power did not rest in the sole domain of
institutions, rather it was diffused throughout society and affected people in a multitude of
situations. In PowerIKnowledge (1972) he wrote that, in order to understand power:
One must I...] conduct an ascending analysis I...] starting, that is, from its
infinitesimal mechanisms, which each have their own history, their own
trajectory, their own techniques and tactics, and then see how these
mechanisms of power have been -- and continue to be -- invested,
colonized, utilized, involuted, transformed, displaced, extended, etc. by
ever more general mechanisms and by forms of global domination. (cited in
Field 1988: 144)
There has been a debate over the supposed "postmodernity" of the movement.
While very few analysts have made in-depth arguments either way, several have come out
to say that it was a postmodern movement while others have focused on the movement's
modernist demands (see Burbach 1995, Nugent 1995). I argue that both elements can be
seen within the Zapatista movement, and more importantly the ideology of Zapatismo itself
seems to contain a postmodern/post-structural influence. The movement is not trying to
create new recipes or "meta-narratives" that attempt to provide teleological visions about
where we came from, where we are, and where we are going (although such methods have
been used by liberation theologists in raising the consciousness of indigenous people
throughout Chiapas). This has been both advantageous to the movement and part of its
struggle to have more impact throughout Mexico. The EZLN has produced, from the
standpoint of social theory, a new and original attempt at implementing revolutionary
change.
Subcomandante Marcos's constant politics of aesthetics proved to be both its forte
and its weakness. At times the "postmodern" strategy of tolerance and horizontal decision
making did not provide a clear direction and seemed to only be understood by those
intellectuals that celebrated the new non-authoritarian strategy. At the international forums
and encounters people often seemed confused, wanting to be given a plan of action instead
of having to discuss it. Mexicans who did not follow the movement often asked, "But what
do they want?"
The EZLN's cultural impact was impressive. The masked rebel became a new
heroic icon in Mexico. Indigenous people were proud to see leaders in traditional dress
negotiating with the government. In contrast, the movement did not take hold within
mainstream Mexican society. Several factors account for the extent of a social movement's
cultural impact. According to McAdam there are at least four: first the breadth of a
movement's goals; second the degree of political and economic success achieved by the
social movement; third the level of new contact between two or more previously segregated
groups; and fourth the ties that the social movement has established with cultural elites.
Using this framework we can evaluate the Zapatista movement's impact.
An important impact was the transnationalization of Indian peasant identities and
demands. Through the work of the Church, peasant organizations and EZLN organizers,
Indian peasants have greatly raised their awareness of the national and international factors
that block their struggle for "democracy, freedom and justice." The proliferation of
international solidarity and human rights education in rural communities has allowed many
rural people to connect their struggles to other global movements. There is a continual
dialogical relationship of mutual influence that has continued in Chiapas. As international
delegates attend EiZLN-sponsored forums and encounters they both influence the direction
of Zapatismo and at the same time are influenced by these experiences.
This thesis demonstrates that there is a rich area of culture that has not been
explored in the emergence of social movements, particularly in the field of analysis of
peasant rebellion and revolution. An analysis of structural conditions alone is not sufficient
to determine why movements emerge. In the case of the rise of the EZLN, there has been
little comprehensive analysis of the cultural side. Thus in the preceding chapters I have
attempted to draw together the many cultural elements that led to the uprising, how the
Zapatistas used culture to build a new social movement culture and create a broader
internationalZapatista movement.
I hope to have contributed to an understanding of the EZLN uprising by expanding
on earlier analyses. After three years of public expressions, more information has come
out. We know now that the movement was not just present in eastern Chiapas. The
highlands formed an important region for its emergence as well as the northern zone. Also,
we know that ethnic and cultural identity was a central theme in its demands. Earlier
analyses attempted to limit the movement to the peasant sector, when it became apparent
from self-definitions and the priorities set up for the peace talks that indigenous rights and
culture were core demands for the EZLN. Thus the movement's demands have been
diverse, encompassing the political, economic and cultural realm.
It is clear that what was started on January 1, 1994, is something that cannot
disappear overnight, no matter what level of military force is employed against it.
Comandante David told me they will not put their arms down until all of the accords have
been signed and are operating. In other words not until the peace accords have been put
into practice will the EZLN begin to demobilize. He said, "Our children have learned that
they have rights, they are the new generation. I may not see change in my lifetime but I
know that the new generation will continue to struggle." That evening I returned to the
peace camp where I was staying in the icy cold mountains of Chiapas's central highlands in
January. As I lay half asleep in the hammock I was deeply moved by what David had told
me. The following day several children crossed the road to visit me at the peace camp. One
month before, 40 tanks from the Mexican armed forces had passed by to intimidate
hundreds of men, women and children constructing the Aguascalientes site. At the peace
camp, the children played a wrestling game called Zapatista versus soMado (soldier). The
144
winner would earn the title Zapatista and the loser would be shamed with the title soZdmb.
They were the future generation that would continue to push forward the Zapatista's
demands.
Appendix 1: Figures
Photo #1
An interview with Comandante David,
Guillermo and Rafael at the Aguascalientes
site in Oventic, San Andris Larrainzar,
"Sacamchen de 10s Pobres" on January 27,
1996.
Photo #2
Comandante David speaks at the opening
ceremonies of the Indigenous Rights
Forum in San Crist6bal de las Casas on
January 3, 1996.
Photo #3
"Women fighting and the world changing"
-- An EZLN banner promoting women's
participation in the Zapatista Army.
Photo #4
EZLN negotiators give a private press
conference at the peace talk site in San
Andrks Larrainzar. Cornandante Tacho in
centre, Cornandante Trini (left) and
Comandante Hortencia (right).
ESPECIAL DE ~ECW,S
g
-%
)p
BAN CRISTOBIL DE L I B CAE& Cn*r
DEL 3 AL a DE mma DL IS.L
Photo #5
Author at the Peace Camp in Oventic, with
other international human rights observers
from Japan and Basque Country, Spain.
Photo #6
EZL,N medical clinic at the Aguascalientes
site in Oventic. Mural shows the
movement's most important revolutionary
icons: Che Guevara and Emiliano Zapata.
Photo #7
SubcornandanteMarcos with Comandantes
Tacho and Mois6s speaking at the
Intercontinental Encounterfor Humanity
and Against Neoliberalism in La Realidad,
Chiapas (July 1996).
Photo #8
Sign welcomes international participants to
the IntercontinentalEncounter for
Humanity and Against Neoliberalism in La
Realidad, Chiapas (July 19%).
I
Photo #9
Zapatista militia members perform a
traditional ceremony overlooking the
inauguration of the Aguascalientes site in
Oventic, Chiapas.
Photo #10
Author at the peace talk site in San Andrbs
Larrainzar, Chiapas. This was the third of
the summer 1995meetings between the
government and the EZLN on June 7.
Photo #11
"Marcos-mania" was manifested through
the proliferation of souvenirs sold to
tourists in San Crist6bal. Marcos's image
was used to sell pens, ash trays, calendars,
stickers; buttons, lighters, socks, etc.
Photo #12
Local Zapatista sympathizersread about the
history of the EZLN through the use of
photos and captions, during celebrations
for the 13th anniversary of the organization
in November 19%.
I
Appendix 2: RESEARCH SCHEDULE
(March 31, 1995 to July 8, 1997)
April 20-23: Attended press conferences at Peace Talks I in the township of San And&
Larrainzar.
May 12-14: Attended press conferences at Peace Talks I1 in the township of San And&
Larrainzar.
June 7-10: Attended press conferences at Peace Talks 111 in the township of San AndrCs
Larrainzar. Interviewed EZLN Comandantes Tacho and David.
June 22-July 1: Participated as a civilian peace camp observer in El Prado Pacayal,
municipality of Ocosingo. Interviewed EZLN militia members.
July 4-7: Attended press conferences at Peace Talks IV in the township of San AndrCs
Larrainzar. Interviewed EZLN Comandantes Trini, David and Tacho.
July 13-22: Participated as a civilian peace camp observer in El Prado Pacayal, municipality
of Ocosingo. Interviewed the EZLN responsable.
July 24-27: Attended press conferences at Peace Talks V in the township of San AndrCs
Larrainzar.
October 18: Attended press conference at the first round of talks between the government
and EZLN on Indigenous Rights and Culture.
December 29 - January 1: Inauguration of the New Aguascalientes Oventic, San AndrCs
Larrainzar. Interviewed Comandante Moids.
January 3-8: National Indigenous Forum in San Crist6bal de las Casas. Attended table 5 on
the promotion of indigenous culture. Interviewed indigenous participant from Guerrero,
Dr. Jan De Vos and PRD Congress representative Carlota Botey. Attended press
conference given by Subcomandante Marcos.
January 19-28: Participated as a civilian peace camp observer in Oventic, San AndrCs
Larrainzar. Interviewed Comandantes David, Guillermo and Rafael.
March 18: Interviewed "alleged Zapatistas" Javier Elorreaga and Sebastian Entzin in Cerro
Hueco Prison, Tuxtla GutiCrrez.
March 22: Visited the community of Roberto Barrios, municipality of Palenque.
Interviewed community leaders.
March 31: Interviewed Comandantes David, MoisCs, Susana and Hortencia at EZLN
Aguascalientes site in Oventic, San And& Larrainzar.
April 3-8:American Intercontinental Encounter against Neoliberalism and for Humanity in
La Realidad, municipality of Las Margaritas. Attended the table on indigenous rights and
culture.
April 10-13: Participant-observer at the EZLN-sponsored First Meeting of the National
Permanent Indigenous Forum in Oventic, San AndrCs Larrainzar.
April 25: Attended the first Meeting of the FZLN in San Cristobal.
May 5: Inauguration of EZLN Aguascalientes site in Roberto Barrios, municipality of
Palenque. Interviewed Comandantes Pedro, Salvador, Leticia, Isias and AndrCs.
May 7: Interviewed Comandantes Hortencia and David at EZLN Aguascalientes site in
Oventic, San AndrCs Larrainzar.
June 1-2: Participant on a CONPAZ-sponsored human rights fact-finding mission.
Interviewed community members in Ocosingo, Chilon, Bachajon and Sabanilla about the
effects of militarization.
June 30-July 6: Observer at EZLN Special Forum on State Reform in San Crist6bal de las
Casas.
July 19: Interviewed community members at EZLN Aguascalientes site in La Garrucha,
municipality of Ocosingo.
July 27-August 3: International Encounter against Neoliberalism and for Humanity. Visited
Oventic, Roberto Banios and La Realidad. Interviewed community members in Roberto
Bamos. Attended discussion tables in La Realidad.
October 29: Visited EZLN community MoisCs-Gandhi, municipality of Ocosingo.
Interviewed the founding members of the community.
January 1: Interviewed Comandante David at EZLN Aguascalientes site in Oventic, San
AndrCs Larrainzar.
January 15: Interviewed EZLN supporters displaced from the township of Pantelh6.
January 23: Interviewed EZLN militia members in the municipality of Chenalh6
March 19: Interviewed Comandantes Rafael, Daniel and Galindo at EZLN Aguascalientes
site in Oventic, municipality of San AndrCs Larrainzar.
July 3-7: Interviewed Mexican electoral officials, members of the Alianza Civica and
coordinated a delegation of international election observers during mid-term Congressional
elections.
Appendix 3: Chronology of Chiapas Peace Process
Jan 1: The Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) takes over municipal capitals in
Ocosingo, Altamirano, Las Margaritas, San Cristobal, Chanal and Oxchuc. Estimated that
3,000 indigenous rebels participate.
*First EZLN Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle calls on all Mexicans to join
the rebel army, march on Mexico City, overthrow the government, and replace it with a
transitional coalition until fair elections can be held.
Jan 2: Zapatista soldiers wait in Ocosingo for transport to retreat to their communities.
Mexican forces are called in from Campeche and parachutists block the exit to the canyons.
Many Zapatistas trapped in the city. Fierce gun battle takes place. At least 50 Zapatistas
killed in battle and others executed. Unknown number of Mexican soldiers killed. EZLN
attacks Rancho Nuevo military base outside of San Cristobal.
Jan 3: Military counter-offensive continues. Reports of airplane rocket attacks in the hills
surrounding San Cristobal and in communities of the eastern canyons. Over the next week
thousands of displaced indigenous campesinos begin entering urban centers, seeking
refuge from bombings, army interrogations and torture.
Jan 12: President Salinas announces a cease-fire. Zapatistas in control of the canyons east
of Las Margaritas, Altamirano and Ocosingo. Territory becomes known as "tiena
liberadaW-liberatedzone. Must pass through E N checkpoints to enter the zone.
Jan 25: President Salinas visits Tuxtla, promises dialogue, names Bishop Samuel Ruiz as
mediator and Manuel Camacho as government peace commissioner.
Feb 16: Zapatistas release ex-governor General Absalon Castellanos to Commissioner
Camacho and Bishop Ruiz at Guadalupe Tepeyac.
Feb 27-Mar 2: Peace talks in the Cathedral, San Cristobal: Marcos and EZLN comandantes
meet with Camacho. Bishop Ruiz mediates. Government responds to 32 of 34 EZLN
demands. Zapatistas take the proposal back to their communities for democratic
consultations.
Mar 23: PRI presidential candidate Donald Colosio assassinated in Tijuana.
Mar 24: Zapatista troops put on red alert in the liberated zone. Consultations suspended.
May 4: Commissioner Camacho and Bishop Ruiz meet E L N representatives in the jungle.
Consultations re-ini tiated.
Jun 12: EZLN in a public announcement rejects government proposals.
*Second EZLN Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle calls for a National
Democratic Convention (CND) to precede the national elections in August.
Jun 16: Commissioner Camacho resigns.
Jun 23: Jorge Madrazo named as the new peace commissioner.
Aug 6-9: First CND held at a site called Aguascalientes (commemorating an important
constitutional convention that took place during the Mexican Revolution) in the jungle near
Guadalupe Tepeyac. Meeting mobilizes Mexico's independent political forces in an attempt
to break the P H ' s 65-year hold on power.
Aug 21: National Elections: PRI takes 50.3% of the votes. PRI governor in Chiapas.
Electoral irregularities.
Sep 28 : Head of the PRI, Ruiz Massieu, assassinated in Mexico City.
Oct 10: EZLN breaks dialogue and announces preparations for war in response to PRI
electoral fraud.
Oct 12: March by CEOIC "502 years of indigenous resistance." Creation of nine
autonomous pluri-ethnic regions/municipalities.
Nov 3-6: Second CND held in Tuxtla Gutierrez calls for mobilizations to prevent PRI
governor-elect Eduardo Robledo Rincon from taking power in Chiapas.
Dec 1: Ernesto Zedillo sworn in as President of the Republic.
Dec 7: Robledo Rincon assumes governor's office in Tuxtla. EZLN announces the end of
the cease-fire. In San Cristobal, PRD candidate Amado Avenda5o named as Governor in
Rebellion.
Dec 19: Bishop Ruiz announces a Fast for Peace in response to government's attempt to
remove him from his role as mediator of the conflict. He calls for international support.
Dec 20: EZLN breaks military lines and peacefully takes positions in 38 municipalities
outside of the liberated zone in Chiapas.
Dec 21: Peso devaluation - government blames Zapatista offensive but news comes about
government economic mismanagement and Salinas's attempt to conceal the true state of the
economy.
Dec 26: Global Exchange delegation responds to Bishop Ruiz's call for international
support by sending an emergency committee to Chiapas. Three members of the delegation
join the Bishop on his hunger strike.
1995
Jan 1: *Third EZLN Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle calls for the creation
of the National Liberation Movement (MLN).
Jan 15: Interior Minister Esteban Moctezuma meets with Marcos, Tacho and Moises in the
jungle. Bishop Ruiz present to mediate. They discuss measures to ease the stand-off and
re-initiate negotiations.
Jan 17: The EZLN announces that it will not take any military actions and that it again
stands by the cease-fire announced Jan 12,1994.
Feb 3: Third CND in Queretaro - begin discussing the formation of the broad opposition
front (MLN).
Feb 9: Zapatista safe houses stormed by police in Veracruz and Mexico City. Zedillo
produces arrest orders for Zapatista leadership and claims to have unmasked Marcos.
Military invades Zapatista communities in the liberated zone. Thousands of villagers flee
into the mountains and jungle. Military destroys property and infrastructure in many
villages. Aguascalientes destroyed. Dozens of presumed Zapatistas arrested. During
February, many protests in Mexican embassies and consulates throughout North America
and Europe.
Feb 14: PRI Governor of Chiapas, Robledo Rincon, steps-down and is replaced by
another PRI member, Julio Cesar Ruiz Ferro.
Feb 16: Global Exchange human rights delegation arrives. Decision is made to found a
permanent "Peace House" in order to monitor the human rights situation and work towards
facilitating peaceful strategiesfor local grassroots change.
Mar 11: Mexican Congress approves a "Law for Dialogue, Conciliation and Dignified
Peace in Chiapas". Refugees begin returning to villages destroyed by army. Peace Camps,
with national and international observers, are formed in communities as a safety measure
against future military harassment. Military remains in the former liberated zone (now
called conflict zone) and continues its low-intensity war aimed at dividing and conquering
Zapatista support base communities.
Apr 9: Meeting in the Ejido San Miguel, Ocosingo: EZLN, Government, COCOPA
(legislators), CONAI (Bishop Ruiz's mediation team of intellectuals and church
representatives). They approve the "Law for Dialogue" and set stage for the re-initiation of
peace talks. San Andres Larrainzar chosen as the site for the talks.
Apr 20-23: Dialogue I San AndrCs-thousands of indigenous pro-Zapatista marchers
converge on the negotiation site. Hundreds of international supporters. Government
demands that indigenous supporters leave the site. Talks begin.
May 12-15: Dialogue I1 San Andres-discussions about disarmament and military
withdrawal from the conflict zone.
Jun 7-10: Dialogue 111 San Andres-discussions of Zapatista demands. Government only
recognizes local problems while EZLN emphasizes the national dimensions of the crisis in
Chiapas.
Jun 2 k Expulsion of three foreign priests in Chiapas
Jul46: Dialogue IV San Andres-EZLN denounces military provocation and harassment in
the conflict zone. EZLN presents documents to set the agenda for future discussions to
address demands.
Jul 24-26: Dialogue V San Andres-plagued with insults from both sides. Government
accuses EZLN of trying to buy time in order to pursue hidden agenda. EZLN delegates
accuse government of not taking them seriously and denounce the government's lack of
cultural sensitivity.
Aug 27: Gran Consulta Nacional: EZLN supporters set up polling booths across Mexico
and internationally. More than one million people participate answering six questions about
the future direction of the EZLN. Results show more than 90% of participants agree with
movement's basic demands and strategy. Divided opinion over whether the movement
should unite with other forces.
Sep 5: Dialogue VI San Andres-first advance made as a peace talk agenda is agreed upon
(see appendix I). Agree to begin discussions on Indigenous rights in October.
Oct 15: Chiapas municipal elections-PRD supporters abstain in many municipalities. PRI
takes majority of the municipal presidencies. Notable exceptions: PAN in Tuxtla and PRD
in Altamirano. No voting in Ocosingo. Ongoing disputes in San And& Larrainzar,
Oxchuc and many other municipalities.
Oct 18-22: Table 1 Indigenous Culture and Rights, San Cristobal and San Andres: 4%
participants of which 308 are Zapatistas, their invited guests and advisers. Discussed
constitutional reforms necessary to strengthen indigenous rights and create a new
relationship between indigenous people and the State.
Oct 21: Fernando Yaiiez Muiioz arrested in Mexico City and accused of being Zapatista
Comandante German.
Oct 27: Fernando Yaiiez released due to popular pressure and by amnesty of the Dialogue
Law signed in San Miguel (April '95) by the government and EZLN.
Nov 13-18: Table 1 Indigenous Culture and Rights, San Andres-talks continue.
Dec: Heightened military provocation in conflict zone. Forty tanks threaten highland
community, Oventic. Chiapas immigration officials initiate "Operation Rainbow" designed
to remove international presence from the peace camps in the conflict zone.
Dec 28-Jan 1: Aguascalientes I1 celebrating second anniversary of EZLN uprising. Cultural
events at newly constructed sites in La Realidad, Oventic, Morelia and La Gamcha.
Jan 1: *Fourth EZLN Declaration from the Lacandon Jungle calls for the creation
of the Zapatista Front for National Liberation (FZLN): a broad social movement of
opposition forces that does not seek state power or to become part of the formal political
system. Change to come from within civil society.
Jan 3-8: National Indigenous Forum: conference sponsored by the EZLN brings together
indigenous representatives from across Mexico. Indigenous issues divided into six
working sessions: political participation, justice, autonomy, women, culture, access to
media. Twenty-five indigenous EZLN comandantes attend (four women). Later,
Subcomandante Marcos arrives to San Cristobal, the first time in almost two years.
Resolutions from Forum to be brought to National Legislature.
Jan 10-19: Table 1-Indigenous Rights, San Andres: Final Documents produced on the
issue of indigenous rights. The EZLN brings the proposals back to the communities for
consultations.
Jan 30: In accordance with the Fourth Declaration, the EZLN announces an Intercontinental
Encounter Against Neoliberalism and for Humanity. Assemblies to be held during April in
Berlin, La Realidad, Tokyo, Africa, Sidney. Results to be presented at International
meeting in La Realidad, Chiapas, Jul27-Aug3.
Feb 15: Table 1-Indigenous Rights, San Andres: EZLN announces that communities voted
96% to accept the "minimal" accord, despite strong reservations about the lack of advances
on the issues of autonomy and the reform of Article 27 (land rights). First peace agreement
signed between government and EZLN, known as the San Andres Accord on Indigenous
Rights and Culture.
Mar 5- 11: Table 2-Democracy and Justice in San Andres. Agreement to allow EZLN to
have a voice in multi-party talks discussing national political reform. Agreement on
working sessions for next meeting.
Mar 8: International Women's Day March: 5,000 Zapatista women and men march through
San Cristobal with ski masks and handkerchiefs covering their faces, denouncing violence
against women. Placards promote the new FZLN.
Mar 20-24: Table 2 talks continue in San Crist6bal and San Andr6s divided into seven
working sessions. Oliver Stone arrives in show of support for Zapatistas. State offensive
to forcibly remove campesinos from reclaimed lands. Deaths in Nicolas Ruiz and
Pichucalco.
Mar 25: Marcos meets Oliver Stone in La Realidad on the day of the Oscars-Stone is
nominated for four awards. Marcos gives him a balaclava and a pipe and they ride away on
horseback to a private meeting.
Apr 3-8: American Continental Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism.
Delegates from throughout North America and Latin America meet for five days in the
Zapatista Aguascalientes site in La Realidad to discuss the social, political, economic and
cultural effects of neoliberalism throughout the hemisphere. A special table was set up to
deal with its effects on indigenous people.
Apr 10-12: Meeting of the Permanent National Indigenous Forum in Zapatista
Aguascalientes site in Oventic, San Andres. Indigenous representatives from many
different Mexican states discuss strategies for promotion of the resolutions of the
Indigenous Forum in January. EZLN members attend discussion tables.
Apr 14: French theoretician Regis Debray visits Marcos in L a Realidad. Marcos states that
the visits of celebrities reduce pressure by the military and government.
Apr 21: Former first lady of France, Danielle Mitterand, visits Subcomandante Marcos in
his jungle hideout near La Realidad. She speaks out against the widespread poverty in the
region. She also visits peace talks in San Andrks.
May 2: Alleged Zapatista members Sebastian Entzin and Javier Elorreaga sentenced to 6
and 13 years respectively for terrorism, sedition and rebellion.
May 5: Inauguration of a fifth Zapatista Aguascalientes site in Roberto Bamos, Palenque,
outside the "conflict zone". Cultural events and denunciations of military provocation. As
many as 1,000 soldiers present in the neighbouring federal military base. Also 13 armoured
vehicles on red alert line the road on the way to the community. On the same day conflicts
in Bachajon lead to several deaths, massive displacements and homes burned down.
Jun 5: Dialogue on Justice and Liberty canceled because the Zapatista delegation refuses to
negotiate with the government while there are alleged Zapatistas in prison accused of
terrorism, sedition and rebellion.
Jun 6: Appeal court decision frees two alleged Zapatistas: Sebastian Entzin and Javier
Elorreaga. Sixteen prisoners remain on different charges.
Jun 28: The one-year commemoration of the massacre of 17 campesinos in Aguas Blancas,
Guerrero, is interrupted by an armed group calling itself the Popular Revolutionary Army
(EPR). Their manifesto calls for the overthrow of the Mexican government by arms and the
institution of an "appropriate" govenunent.
Jun 30-Jul 6: Forum on Mexican State Reform. Subcomandante Marcos arrives in San
Cristobal and begins a week of discussions on democratization, human rights and the
future direction of the Zapatista organization. Marcos meets with important Mexican
opposition leaders. Marcos declares that the EPR is not tied to the EZLN.
Jul 8-12: Discussions for new procedural rules and a new format for the peace talks.
Modification of the peace accord made in San Miguel April '95. The Zapatistas are now
defined as "a group of Mexican citizens, mostly indigenous, that dissented". They cannot
be classified as terrorists and arrest orders for Zapatista leaders can no longer be issued
while the peace talks continues. The decision to break the peace talks can only be made by
the COCOPA and the CONAI mediating bodies.
Jul 16-17: EZLN and government meet to discuss the bases for the new negotiations on
"Democracy and Justice" scheduled for August 6th.
Jul27-Aug 3: International Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism held at all
five Aguascalientes sites in Chiapas. Five thousand participants from across the globe.
Aug 6-14: Peace talks resume in San Andres Larrainzar. No advances made. Scheduled to
meet again on September 3rd. The EZLN calls for the replacement of the current
government negotiating team.
Aug 28: The EPR carries out armed actions in Oaxaca, Guerrero and the Federal District-at
least 15deaths and 16 injuries. Non-violent actions carried out in Chiapas and Tabasco.
Sep 3: The EZLN suspends the dialogues in response to Zedillo's address to the nation,
chronic violence in the northern zone of Chiapas, the 16 alleged Zapatista political prisoners
still being held and the lack of progress in implementing the San Andres Accords. The
EZLN declares a red alert in the communities. Marcos publishes a communiqut addressed
to the EPR, criticizing it for carrying out actions in Chiapas, stating that the indigenous
people will be the ones who pay. He also refuses the EPR's offer of support.
Sep 7: The Interior Ministry publishes a response to Marcos' communiquC and the
suspension of the peace talks, denying EZLN's accusation that government is not taking
the peace negotiations seriously.
Sep 8: Marcos publishes a "Ja!" (ha!) in response to the government's communiquC. EZLN
declares that it will not retreat in the face of a renewed military offensive. Zapatista troops
remain on red alert.
Oct 10-12: National Indigenous Conference (CNI) held in Mexico City. Cornandante
Ramona attends, representing the EZLN. The first official Zapatista appearance outside
Chiapas.
Oct 15-21: First Tripartite Meeting: Subcomandante Marcos and 16 other EZLN
comandantes meet with members of the CONAI and COCOPA in San Cristobal to talk
about creating the conditions for renewed peace talks. Marcos walks from the city theatre to
the dialogue site six blocks away, passing in front of San Cristobal's municipal palace.
Nov 5-10: Second Tripartite Meeting: EZLN delegates arrive in San Cristbbal for the
installation of the Follow-up Commission that will oversee the implementation of the
accord signed in February on Indigenous Rights and Culture. CONPAZ offices are
firebombed, their accountant and his family are abducted and held for two days and NGO
workers from various organizations in San Cristobal receive death threats. Three
indigenous campesinos are killed during a forced eviction by the public security and
Mexican armed forces in Laja Tendida, Venustiano Carranza.
NOV26-Dec 10: Third Tripartite Meeting: The EZLN meets with the CONAI and COCOPA
in San Cristobal. On Nov. 29, the COCOPA presents a comprehensive proposal for
constitutional changes that match the spirit of the document signed on Indigenous Rights
and Culture. The EZLN accepts the proposal and the COCOPA sends it to President Zedillo
for approval. The COCOPA states that if it is not accepted they will dissolve as a mediating
body. The EZLN states that they will only accept a Yes or No from the government-they
are not willing to make changes. Zedillo asks for 15 days to consider the document.
Dec 5: A delegation from the Estaci6n Norte is detained for three hours in Miguel A l e m h
Tila, by 200 members of the paramilitary group Paz y Justicia armed with machetes. The
group was verbally threatened and robbed of several tons of food aid, cameras and
personal belongings while the Public Security police watched from a hill and the army
passed by twice in a convoy.
Jan 11: During the last part of December, the government offers the EZLN a counterproposal instead of directly replying to the COCOPA initiative. After examining the
counter-proposal with its advisors, the EZLN rejects it. Marcos vanishes from public view
and the level of tension increases throughout Chiapas.
Jan 15: Intracommunity violence in the township of Pantelh6. PRI supporters bum down
the offices of the autonomous government and more than 100 families are expelled, mostly
EZLN supporters.
Jan 19: Intracommunity violence in El Paraiso, Sabanilla. The Public Security Police arrive
on Jan. 20. Members of the opposition side protest that they were forced to flee when the
police shot tear gas into their homes and dropped grenades from helicopters. Opposition
flees into the mountains, Public Security police and PRI members remain in the
community.
Feb 1: In San Cristobal de las Casas 9,000 indigenous members of the EZLN and FZLN
march demanding that the COCOPA not allow itself to be intimidated by the government in
its work to implement the San Andres Accords. They also demanded that the military and
police cease their continual harassment of indigenous communities.
Feb 5: PRI members attack EZLN supporters in Aguas Blancas, Palenque. More than 30
families displaced and 4 people injured.
Feb 1 1: Fourth attempt since November to set fire to the offices of CONPAZ.
Feb 15: Estacion Norte human rights team is ambushed by armed men from the PRI
paramilitary group Paz y Justicia in El Paraiso, Sabanilla, while attempting to listen to the
PRI's version of the events surrounding the violence in January. Two vehicles were shot at
and one man injured. The national and international observers were held at gun point before
the Public Security police amved.
Feb 19-20: Indigenous forum takes place in Patihuitz, Ocosingo. Discussions of the
situation of the San Andres Accords, justice, human rights, democracy, the situation of
women and the problem of the electricity cuts.
Feb 21-22: State Encounter for Peace and National Dialogue. Forty-two organizations meet
in San Cristobal. Proposals made, concerning the creation of a national dialogue and the
definition of what these organizations should do in the immediate future to promote the
peace process.
Mar 7: Campesinos from Emiliano Zapata and Plan de Ayala are evicted by Public Security
police in Palenque. More than 350 families are forced to leave their homes and cornfields.
The front page of La Jornada shows soldiers destroying the community's school to "ensure
that the indigenous people won't return". Land belongs to local cacique Manuel Huerta but
the campesinos have a written agreement giving them the right to use the land. Public
Security police are ambushed as they return to their base, resulting in the death of two
policemen.
Mar 8: Two Jesuit priests and two campesino leaders from the organization Xi'Nich are
kidnapped by police and later charged with inciting violence. While in custody the priests
are beaten and tortured. They are accused of being the intellectual leaders of the ambush.
Over the next few days the public security police officers carry out acts of intimidation
against the Palenque parish and the offices of Xi'Nich. Hundreds of uniformed police
carrying coffins march on the parish with banners saying "Priest Assassins". They attempt
to break down the doors of the offices of Xi'Nich using the coffins as battering rams. Also
on this day there is a march in Larrainzar for International Women's Day.
Mar 12: Xi'Nich leaders and Jesuit Priests are released from the Cerro Hueco jail because
of lack of evidence. Police enjoy impunity from the charges of kidnapping, torture and
false arrest.
Mar 14: Inter-community violence in San Pedro Nixtalucum, municipality of El Bosque.
EZLN sympathizers and PRI members attempt to resolve internal dispute. Public Security
police amve and detain six campesinos from the E L N side. As the police transport the six
prisoners toward Tuxtla they are attacked with sticks a road block. The police and a
helicopter fires on the protesters killing four and injuring six. In total 27 campesinos, all
EZLN sympathizers, are detained and held in the Cerro Hueco penitentiary in Tuxtla
Gutierrez. More than 90 families (400 persons) from the EZLN displaced from San Pedro
Nixtalucum.
Mar 1416: First National Encounter for Peace takes place in Mexico City, responding to
the EZLN's call for a national dialogue in the search for a just and dignified peace. A total
of 264 organizations from civil society respond.
Apr 8-10: Second State Encounter for Peace and National Dialogue in San Cristobal. Forty
organizations discussed the problems of militarization, the impasse in the peace process and
violence in the communities. The Second Encounter ended with a march in San Cristobal
commemorating the 78th anniversary of the assassination of Emiliano Zapata.
Apr 13: "Pilgrimage for Peace'' 20,000 parishioners from the northern zone march to Tila
where the Mexican Episcopal Council (CEM) and church representatives call for
reconciliation and peace in the northern zone.
Apr 2428: Wejil March-150 representatives of the displaced people from the northern zone
marched from Tila to Tuxtla, stopping in several towns along the way to demand the
release of political prisoners and a solution to the crisis in the north. They begin a sit-in
protest in front of the state government building. Twelve international observers are
expelled from Mexico for accompanying the marchers.
Apr 26: Pedro Joaquih Coldwell named as the new government representative in the
negotiations for peace in Chiapas. Coldwell is the former governor of Quintana Roo and
representative of the Mexican High Commission on Refugees (COMAR).
May 5-6: U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Mexico. Meets with President Zedillo and
opposition leaders, but does not raise the issue of the human rights situation in Chiapas and
other conflict-torn areas of Mexico.
May 17-18: The Encounter for Peace and Reconciliation in Tuxtla Gutierrez brings together
40 organizations from diverse social sectors to discuss solutions to the violence in Chiapas.
Encounter is organized by the Support Commission for Community Unity and
Reconciliation (CORECO), a coalition of church and human rights groups.
May 23: The first 11 of the 27 prisoners from the conflict in San Pedro Nixtalucum, El
Bosque are released from Cerro Hueco penitentiary in Tuxtla Gutierrez.
May 28: The rest of the prisoners from San Pedn, Nixtalucum are released from Cerro
Hueco after sustained negotiations between the state government and members of the San
Cristdbal Diocese.
Jul6: Mid-term congressional elections in Mexico. EZLN supporters boycott the electoral
process. Ballot boxes burned in San Andrks Larrainzar and sabotaged in Ocosingo. The
PRI loses its absolute majority in the Congress for the first time in history. Cuauhtemoc
Cirdenas of the PRD is elected to the new post of Mexico City mayor.
Appendix 4: EZLN
- Government Peace Talk Agenda
General Agenda for the Dialogue and Negotiation
The Agreement for Concordance and Peace with Justice and Dignity
Social
Cultural
Economic
Themes
of Chiapan
LI z J1
1: Indigenous
Rights
and Justice
I
Sessions:
1-Autonomy and Community
2-Guarantees of Justice
3-Representation and Political
Participation.
4-Situation, Rights and
Culture of the Indigenous
Woman.
3: Economic
Development
and Welfare
4: Women's
Sessions:
1-PoliticalDemocracy and Public
Institutions.
2-Social Democracy and Social
Justice.
3-Social Organizations and
Citizen Participation.
4Justice and Human Rights
5-Access to Means of
Communication.
5-Justice, Social Community and
Judicial order.
6-Promotion and
Development of
Indigenous Culture
6-Democracy and Communication
Media.
MINIMALACCORD:
signed Feb 15, 19%.
7-Democracy and National
Sovereignty
SUSPENDED
Sept 3, 1996
Appendix 5: MAPS
1. Chiapas in Mexico
3. Regions in Chiapas related to the conflict and the
EZLN
Bibliography
Autonomedia
1994
!Zapatistas! Documents of the New Mexican Revolution (December3 l,1% to
Junel2, 1994). New York: Autonomedia.
Adler Helman, Judith
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